Between Love and Apathy
by otherrealmwriter
Summary: After treating Itachi's illness,Konan and Itachi fall in love and start their own family. Sasuke is still after revenge. One day while on the quest for Itachi, Sasuke hears his name seeing Itachi and his son and rethinks revenge ItaKon and SasuKarin
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Naruto okay? I wanted to do this for so long, a multi-chaptered ItaKon (ItachixKonan) fic for so long. Shame there isn't more of them out there. This fic was partially inspired by my boyfriend so I would like to thank him for his inspiration and love. Big thanks to him for helping me with the title. Anyway, enough with my boring A/N on with the fic!**

Itachi walked along the Akatsuki hideout coughing. He was going to try and meet up with Sasuke "Hey Itachi-san, you don't look too well." Kisame said as Itachi walked out of their room.

"I'm fine Kisame you baka." Itachi said. "Now leave me alone." He walked along the hideout as fast as his sickness impaired body would allow his legs to carry him. He was going to try and meet up with Sasuke. He started to cough heavily into his hand. He sat against the wall and coughed heavily still into his hand. His coughing spell happened to be near the Akatsuki main base headquarters main office.

"Itachi…" Konan whispered walking out the door. Meanwhile Itachi got up and tried to walk out the hideout, acting like he just had a slight cold not something more serious. Konan walked up to Itachi and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"You're not going anywhere." A familiar female voice said behind Itachi. Her soft hand grabbed his shoulder and despite how delicate Konan's hands may have appeared, she pulled Itachi back from leaving the hideout.

"Let me go Konan-chan." Itachi said simply. "Do not make me use my Sharingan." Itachi coughed again and wiped some sweat off his forehead that was pulsing down from his fever.

"That is one of the biggest lies I have ever heard!" Konan yelled. "You are too ill to go anywhere! I want you to stay here. I don't care what Pein assigned you; I'll talk to him. The Akatsuki can't afford to lose another member. Some of our best members, Sasori and Deidara, are gone; we can't afford to lose another member, especially you. You are one of our best." Konan then grabbed Itachi and sat him down in the nearest chair.

"Pein will be extremely mad at you!" Itachi yelled feebly with a cough.

"I can talk to him. We have known each other since we were kids. I don't want you to be heading off to your death. I- mean we- need you." _That Uchiha Itachi, stubborn, always putting his mission above all. _Konan sighed as she walked off, locking the door behind her. "And don't try to escape. I have Tobi available to keep you here!" Konan said as she walked down the halls of the Akatsuki hideout looking for Pein to talk some sense into him. Itachi was a valuable asset to the Akatsuki and if she had it her way, she would work with Itachi more. She did agree with 'God's' plan but if 'God' was doing it wrong, as his angel she would tell him. The door opened with a creak as she walked in "Pein-sama, can I speak with you?"

"What?" Pein asked sternly looking up at Konan from his plans "I have a lot to do here Konan-chan."

Konan gathered her courage and spoke, "Itachi is not going anywhere. He is too sick to do anything. I am not about to let out best operative, besides you, get killed. If you want all the Tailed Beasts, you need an organization made up of more than a Sharkman, Human Venus Fly Trap or Tobi."

"Fine. If you want the pretty boy Uchiha like that, go ahead. I don't need my Rinnegan to see that." Pein said "Although I do have to agree with you on the fact that Uchiha Itachi is a valuable asset to the Akatsuki, you can take some of our medicine to him."

"Fine." Konan said walking off. She walked along the hideout, through the cavernous walls hoping Itachi was still alive. She acted like she was just looking after a comrade, nothing more. Succumbing to her emotion was a dangerous thing, especially when she was working with an organization made up of men. If that wasn't a good enough reason, nothing was. She wasn't about to publicly admit that she was doing this mainly for her love of Itachi.

Konan kept walking along until she found the medicine room and infirmary. _Blood poisoning…flu…come on…_ She looked through it all until she found the medicine she needed to help cure Itachi's respiratory infection. As she gathered them, she remembered the last time she saw Itachi healthy. He caught her eye with more than his pretty face. _It's not going to happen. You work with Pein, there is almost no chance that you can talk to Itachi like you want to._ A voice in the back of her head taunted her. "No! I am going to be with Itachi. I am not going to let him slip away!" She gathered all the ingredients in a bag and ran to the room she kept Itachi in.

_Lucky for Itachi-kun that Pein made me learn medics when we started Akatsuki. _Konan thought as a childish, silly voice woke her from her thoughts. "Konan-sempai!"

"Tobi!" She gasped. "How is Itachi?"

"Itachi-sempai is sleeping. He doesn't seem too well." Tobi said

_Tell me something I don't know…_ Konan thought. "Well has he seemed to do anything gross lately?"

"He fell asleep after he made an icky cough; it had boogers and blood in it. EWWWWWWWW! Tobi doesn't want to touch it." Tobi said.

_Sounds like tuberculosis or some other respiratory infection definitely. _Konan thought. "Just as I thought Tobi…Itachi-kun is really sick…." Konan gasped as she started to mix medicine and herbs together.

"Konan-sempai, what are you doing?" Tobi asked. "What about the icky mess Itachi made?"

Konan rolled her eyes at Tobi and threw a towel at him. "Here Tobi. Be a good boy and clean it up."

"Ewwwwwwwwwwww." Tobi said as he wiped away the mucus. "What are you doing Konan-sempai dare Tobi ask."

"What does it look like retard?" Konan snapped. "I'm mixing medicine for Itachi-kun." _I am not letting the best man I have ever met die due to a sickness he caught standing in the rain too long worrying about his kid brother, at least that is what Kisame said. Kisame could stand in the rain because he's a fishman but not you Itachi-kun. _"I swear Itachi; didn't your mother ever say 'don't play out in the rain'?" Konan said knowing that Itachi was too weak to answer. "Uchiha Itachi, what the hell were you thinking?" Konan mixed the final ingredients to help stave off the infection. Itachi coughed again as Konan poured the mixture into his mouth and made him swallow. She laid his head back down gently and watched him, praying that something would happen.

"Uggh…" Itachi said as his complexion slowly started to turn a little pinker.

"Yeay! Itachi-sempai is getting better!" Tobi said as he danced around the room.

"Yes Itachi is getting better you idiot. When I was younger and the Leader and I were children, I had to learn this stuff. Master Jiraiya was very inept at healing." Konan said as she put a cold compress on Itachi's head to help bring his fever down. _Come on Itachi, the Akatsuki need you. I need you. Please Itachi…..get through this…._Konan thought as she moved the towel and kissed Itachi's forehead. He still felt warm to her lips so she put a fresh towel on his head. "Come on Itachi." Konan whispered once again. "Please don't die…I need you." She whispered as she cried a few tears that fell on Itachi's face as she imagined the horrid image of what would become of him if she failed and he died.

"Don't…don't…don't…" Itachi said feebly as he felt Konan's tears fall to his face. "Don't…cry…Konan…Konan…chan." His voice was full of sickness. Konan then gave Itachi a huge hug of happiness.

She wiped her eyes and smiled. "You're improving Itachi-kun!" She started to cry once again, not out of sadness but of happiness. "I thought I… I… I… would lose you! I mean, I thought the Akatsuki would lose their most valuable member after Pein-sama." Konan blushed hiding her near confession of love.

Itachi smiled at Konan's love hint and thoughtfulness. _I think Konan-chan likes me…_ he thought as she hugged him once again. _Nahhhhhh…she has Pein… then again… _ Itachi tried to get up but Konan pushed him down gently.

"Take it easy Uchiha. You don't have a stomach flu you can handle without care. You have an acute respiratory infection that I luckily knew how to treat. You need rest." Konan said as she took off her cloak and wrapped Itachi in it like a blanket to keep him warm.

"Awwwwwww I think Konan-sempai has a little crush on Itachi-sempai! _**Itachi and Konan sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage then comes Itachi with the baby carriage!**_" Tobi sang much to everyone's annoyance. Konan looked over with a deadly stare. Even Itachi managed a feeble threatening look.

"Tobi, give me your cloak." Konan said turning her careful and loving face she was showing Itachi to a threatening and cruel face to Tobi.

"But the cloak as hard for Tobi to get Pein-sempai to give Tobi! Tobi was a good boy for it!" Tobi cried.

Konan rolled her eyes as she got up and tapped her foot. _ God Tobi you are such an idiot. _She thought. _Well if Tobi is so set on being a 'good boy' then I have to play it so he will be a bad boy if he doesn't let me have his cloak. _She knew that he loved to be a 'good boy' and all he did was to make everyone think he was a good boy in their eyes. Konan then put her hand to her face and sighed. It was then she figured just how exactly to get Tobi to give her his cloak.

"Tobi if you don't give me that cloak you will be a very, very bad boy." Konan said as if she was punishing a kindergarten aged child.

"Bad boy…?" Tobi gulped. "Tobi is not a bad boy. Tobi is a good boy. What must Tobi do to make Konan-sempai believe Tobi?" Tobi cried as pathetic tears came out the eyehole in his mask.

"Well Itachi-kun is very sick here and needs medicine and rest right?" She asked leading Tobi onto what she wanted of him.

"Yes." Tobi obediently nodded.

"Well Itachi-kun can't rest properly without a pillow and he is just using the floor. His cloak and mine are keeping him warm. I plan to use yours to make a pillow until I can get a real bed for him. Without rest in addition to the medicine, Itachi-kun will die and you will be a bad boy for not helping him Tobi!" Konan scolded.

"Tobi will do as you say Konan-sempai." He bowed. "Tobi is a good boy. Tobi doesn't want Itachi-sempai to die." Tobi then folded his cloak like a pillow and placed it under Itachi's head. "Now where are you going Konan-sempai?"

"If you must know, I am going to get Kisame to help me bring in Itachi's bed." Konan snapped. "I will not have that sick Uchiha sleeping on the floor when he has an illness that bad."

Konan then left and walked to Itachi and Kisame's room hoping to find one of them there. She walked in and saw where Itachi slept when he had to stay at the Akatsuki headquarters. "Ah. There it is." She said as she picked up the bed and started to carry it out to the room she was healing Itachi in. As she walked along, dragging the bed, Kisame walked by, curious as to what Konan was doing.

"Konan-chan, what are you doing with Itachi's bed?" Kisame asked.

"I'm taking it to him so he can rest properly." She sighed.

"Why not take _Itachi to his bed?" _Kisame asked. "Not vice versa."

"I don't want to move Itachi too much, disturb him until I feel he is well enough to handle that move. Can you help me carry this?" Konan asked.

"Sure." Kisame sighed as he lifted up the bed and carried it to the room Konan was treating Itachi.

"Pein lets me have this room to myself. It's perfect for things like this. No one else comes in unless I allow, not even Pein-sama. I find this the best place to try and heal Itachi-kun in peace." Konan said.

Kisame took the bed and laid it down and then picked up Itachi and placed him on it. "I'll get his beddings if you want me to Konan-chan."

"Please and thank you Kisame." Konan bowed. "Now Tobi how was Itachi-kun while I was gone?"

Itachi-sempai was very peaceful, slept like a cute little kitten or a cute little puppy dog." Tobi said smiling under his mask.

"Okay. That's good I guess…." Konan said a little unsure of how to take Tobi's blissful response.

"Hey Konan-chan! I got the beddings!" Kisame yelled throwing it into the room.

"Thank you Kisame-sempai!" Tobi said as he left the room and ran after Kisame. "How is my favorite Sharkman today?"

"I will kill you Tobi!" Kisame yelled.

Konan sighed and smiled, turning her attention fully to Itachi. She took off her cloak and made Itachi's more fitting to be slept in. Once she did that, she placed his pillows under his head gently and tucked him in, being careful not to disturb him. She kissed his forehead once again before she rewet his towel.

"I love you" she whispered. "God I want you to get well soon." Konan smiled.

"I…"Itachi said before falling back asleep.

"Shhhhhhhhh… take some more medicine." Konan said pouring some more medicine in his mouth once again.

**Well how was that? This is going to go into a multichaptered fic so keep checking back. Once again thanking my boyfriend for all his support and love on this. Couldn't do it without you honey! Anyway read (well you just did) and review please!**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm**


	2. Chapter 2

**Once again, I do not own Naruto okay? Sorry to all of those who waited forever for this update and yes I am a little ashamed of taking so long because ItaKon is a rare pairing out there and there are few fics with it. (Hopefully this will inspire some authors to write their own.) This chapter is dedicated to gagboy who in a PM inspired me to update this. Anyway, enough with my long-ass A/N, on with the fic!**

Konan came by for her daily check of Itachi's health. _He's not going to go anywhere, not with Tobi as the guard anyway. That boy is something else. He'll do as he's told..._ Konan paused looking at the door _too well…_ She knew how Tobi was and unless he had some sort of secret unknown jutsu and was determined to keep Itachi in the bedroom resting. She knew Itachi had somewhere he wanted to go and if given the chance, he would go and ignore all Konan did for him. She did not need that happening. She was not going to be spending all her days treating Itachi, just for him to talk or Sharingan Tobi into letting him go and then die from sickness or some battle he wasn't really needing to go into. She knocked on the door and heard a friendly voice yell, "Come in!"

"Tobi!" Konan yelled.

"Konan sempai!" Tobi yelled as he was sitting on Itachi's bed. "Tobi is keeping the bed warn for Itachi-sempai!"

Konan dropped the bottles she had. _This cannot be good. Tobi was talked into letting Itachi-kun head out and get killed. _Konan started to sob a little bit inside. She believed she may have lost Itachi forever because she didn't take the time to keep an eye on her himself and have the other Akatsuki members fetch every medicine she needed. Konan was not one to be duped and she knew that in his state, Itachi could hardly use his Sharingan so his threats wouldn't have worked on her. Tobi was not the best choice to guard Itachi in the back of her mind and she was now remembering it. Sure Tobi did whatever she commanded him to but he did that with everyone.

"Why are you keeping the bed warm for Itachi?" Konan asked suspicious of Tobi.

"Because after your treatment, Itachi sempai drank a lot of water and soup and had to go to the bathroom." Tobi said. "He says to me, "Tobi, be a good boy and keep this bed warm for me while I go relieve myself."

"Did he say 'bathroom' exactly?" Konan asked. Itachi was a very proper man. He would not be very vulgar with sayings and knew Tobi would take things like a child would. _God Tobi, did you get hit on the head with a huge rock as a child?_

"Not exactly…" Tobi said whimpering at Konan's rage. "I just assumed that he needed to…. I mean he ate all that chicken miso soup and all those teas you made, he drank them… I mean I knew he'd need to go potty eventually. I had to go potty looking at all that liquid."

"You ever hear the saying about when you assume Tobi? You make an ass out of you and me!" Konan yelled. Tobi started to whimper in fear. "You could be responsible for his death! He was not well enough to leave the base and you know it!" Tobi cowered even more. "Itachi is dying of TB and you will not even bother to make an attempt to make him better! As long as he thinks you are a good boy and you keep it up in the Akatsuki, you are happy huh?" Konan yelled ready to kill. She had pulled out a kunai knife she was using to mix up the medicine with and one she was making an antibiotic with. She held one in each hand and held it up to Tobi ready to slit his neck if no sign of Itachi was seen coming out of the restroom in the wing.

"Konan-sempai…please…don't…I didn't mean…. I …don't …don't…want…I don't want Itachi-sempai to die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please believe me!" Tobi yelled as Konan slipped the kunai against his neck. Just as Konan pressed the kunai down, a flush, a 'SWWWWOSHEGHE', was heard and a feeble Itachi walked out.

"ITACHI-KUN!" Konan yelled in relief. She dropped the kunai and ran over to Itachi, guiding him over to the bed. She was relieved that he was still alive and the treatments seemed to be working. Itachi did not look as well as he did before but he was getting there. Recovering from tuberculosis's was something that could not be done overnight.

"Hmmmph…Konan, I could have walked over myself." Itachi said.

"I know. I was just worried." Konan said kissing Itachi's cheek.

"Am I not communicable?" Itachi asked. He was worried more about Konan getting his illness than he was dying from it. He had a mission he wanted to continue with Sasuke and when he could, he would leave and fulfill it but he couldn't not as long as Konan was there making sure he stayed and got better. He knew when to sneak out and when not to. He knew how Konan was and how she was willing to do anything it took to keep him in the base and well. He decided to stay so she wouldn't bug him. However there was a part of him that was loving the care and attention she was paying to him. She was rather beautiful, much more so than all the women he met in his travels. He had a lot of women pay attention to him, as long and far he was been traveling but none were like Konan. Most all of them wanted him because he was as they saw a 'bad boy'. He had the handsome Uchiha looks that a lot of the girls in the ninja academy and ANBU envied and desired but none of those fangirls interested him.

"I checked all the books and what you had is now no longer communicable and if it was, I would have had it by now. You are mainly here to get your strength back up. Your Uchiha Sharingan was a main factor in why it took you a little longer than usual to get back up to full health." Konan said.

Konan was holding Itachi close in the bed when Tobi got up. "Told you! I told you so Konan sempai!" Tobi said annoyed.

"I know Tobi…" Konan said.

"No, that isn't what I want you to say to me. I want something better from you Konan sempai!" Tobi said. He was annoyed that Konan completely forgot he was telling the truth on Itachi's condition and she nearly killed him for it.

"Well what?" Konan said.

"You nearly killed me for telling you Itachi sempai went to the bathroom and you took it as I let him get out. I want you to say you are sorry Konan sempai!" Tobi said.

Konan looked down at her shoes. He was right. For once in Tobi's life, he was right about something. She was rather cruel to him when he was telling the truth. Tobi was one that could understand if something happened to Itachi for real, he would have let Konan's death threats pass. However, he was telling the truth and he was not going to let that go by easily. She could see that Tobi wanted an apology and he wanted it then and there. Konan then looked over to Itachi and saw him back asleep. She sighed and looked down at her feet again. It was hard for her to admit that she was wrong and to admit that she was wrong to Tobi of all the people in the world. _Of all the people in the world to be wrong to…of all of them! Why does it have to be TOBI!?? TOBI??????_

"Well Konan sempai, what do you have to say?" Tobi said tapping his foot. Konan could tell that he was mad at her. That mask of his hid his face but as a ninja, she learned to read body language well and could see that by the motions he was making, he was rather mad.

"I'm…" Konan started to say.

"You're..." Tobi said prompting her to continue

"I'm sorry." Konan mumbled.

"You're what?" Tobi said.

"I'm sorry." Konan yelled.

"Sorry for what?" Tobi said as he moved his right hand in a circular motion to prompt her to continue.

"I'M SORRY I WAS ABOUT TO KILL YOUFOR TELLING ME THE TRUTH ABOUT ITACHI-KUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Konan yelled. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Apology accepted." Tobi said as he hugged her. "Now what are you going to do?"

"Go make Itachi some sweet rolls, it's his favorite." Konan said walking to the kitchen getting ready to make some rolls and tea for Itachi. "I know all too well the importance of morale in a battle and Itachi is in the battle of his life."

"Can I help Konan sempai?" Tobi asked.

"Sure. You can help as long as you don't eat all the sweet rolls." Konan sighed.

_(Page break to Team Hebi)_

Meanwhile, unknown to him that his older brother was dying from tuberculosis, Sasuke was training for the fight when he would battle and kill Itachi. His whole life lead up to it and he was not going to be the one to die. "I am the Uchiha avenger. I need to do this." Sasuke said as he swung the katana around and cut the head off of one of the Uchiha Itachi dummies that Karin had made.

Karin was looking around and staring over at Sasuke while he trained. "Oh god, he is such a sexy studmuffin." She looked around and made some iced tea for him to drink when he finished training. They had just gotten together and started a very serious and very physical relationship. Sasuke was a ball of hormonal rage, and when it came to the bedroom, Karin could deliver what Sasuke wanted. The more they got into the bedroom, the better Sasuke found his concentration.

"Karin!" Sasuke yelled.

"Yes my Sasuke-kun!" She yelled back to him.

"I want you to come down here. I need you to help me with my training." Sasuke said.

Karin ran down because she knew that after his training, Sasuke often wanted some sort of cool down with her. This usually meant that he was almost done and was going to be spending some serious intimate time together. She grabbed the training kunai and ran down to the field where Sasuke was and preceded to get into her training clothes of a pair of short shorts and just her bra. She went down and got into a ready stance for defense against Sasuke. "Okay my stud Sasuke, I am here now!"

"Good." Sasuke said looking up and down Karin with a slight lust growing.

"What do you need me to do?" Karin said.

"Come at me with your earnest. If you do not come at me with the intent to kill, I will not make love to you tonight." Sasuke said.

"Okay!" Karin said as she hid in the trees and waited for Sasuke to come and find her. She knew he was working on find and destroy tactics on land. She climbed the tree hoping for him to come to her. Sasuke wanted her for that job because she was one who could sense him coming from far away with her chakra sensing skills and was going to make it harder to find her. He believed it would be similar to when he was hunting down Itachi. She hopped from tree to tree for about an hour until Sasuke caught her.

"Very good Karin." Sasuke said. "I believe we are making improvements, the both of us."

"Good." Karin said as she climbed out of the tree. "I think you should have little problem when you go to find and kill Itachi." She believed that Sasuke was near invincible and was not going to get sick or killed or anything like that. Holding his hand, she took Sasuke back to their house in Orochimaru's old hideout. Once inside she took him to the bedroom and began to undress him. She kissed his lips in a deep and passionate manner.

"I love you Karin." Sasuke said as he bit one of her nipples, recharging his energy.

"OH god Sasuke!" Karin yelled. "Keep it up!"

"I will." Sasuke said as he continued to recharge while pleasing Karin at the same time. "You mean the world to me and you are of upmost importance. You are of great use to me." He said as he entered her.

**Okay how was that? A little naughty at the end I know. If you want a SasuKarin lemon, let me know and I will write one. Anyway, once again this was dedicated to gagboy and I hope he likes it. I will begin working on chapter 3 as soon as I can. Ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm.**

_PS~ Any anonymous flames will be laughed at severely. If you don't have the guts to use your real account, you should not be leaving nasty reviews that you can't even spell right._


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Naruto okay? Thank you to all of you who you reviewed, faved and alerted. I hope this inspires some of you readers to write an ItaKon fic as well. God knows there aren't enough of them. Anyway, enough with this A/N, on with the fic!!!!!!!!!**

Karin was laying in bed next to Sasuke in awe of what she had done with her. _ God, Sasuke sure knows how to make me feel like a woman…_ She thought as she lay in bed next to Sasuke. She smiled as she looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "I wonder what you are dreaming about my darling…" Karin sighed as she looked over at Sasuke and how he was sleeping. He was lying with a grimacing look on his face. However, Karin knew he _always_ looked that way and knew there was not going to be a smile on his face until he got his revenge on Itachi. She pledged herself on helping Sasuke achieve his dreams; no matter what the cost was to her. Sasuke's life and dreams meant more to Karin than hers. His dreams were her dreams; his life was her life.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was dreaming not about Karin like she was of him but of Itachi. The blood was streaming from him in his mind and he was savoring every moment with his battle face. How he was feeling in battle was never shown because Sasuke believed that if your opponent, couldn't read your face, they couldn't break into your mind. Karin knew that how he felt in the dream, was how his expression was on his face. She could tell that even though he was dreaming about killing Itachi, she knew deep down he was happy. Karin knew that as long as Sasuke was happy, she was going to be happy. With this, Sasuke began to stir.

"Sasuke! You are awake!" Karin yelled in Sasuke's face.

"Huh?" Sasuke asked as he woke with a start to see red hair and glasses staring down on him first thing in the morning. "Oh, it's you Karin."

"Yes it's me! Now are we going to train today or what?" Karin yelled into Sasuke's face.

"Maybe…" He said still a little asleep from being woken up by Karin staring in his face._ God Karin, can you be anymore annoying in the morning? _ "Can you do me a favor Karin?" He said rubbing his eyes, trying to get himself awake.

"Sure; anything for my Sasuke-kun, my love." Karin said leaning over Sasuke's face.

"I want you to make me a breakfast- a good one" Sasuke sighed as he started to get up. "Some rice, miso soup and some green tea. Yeah… that should do it."

Karin got up and headed to the kitchen with a couple of "ow"s as she walked down the halls. Karin was more than willing to let Sasuke sleep while she cooked the breakfast. As she got to the kitchen, she looked around for all the ingredients for the breakfast Sasuke requested. Karin poured some water into the pot to start it boiling to make the rice. She then took some green tea leaves and put them in the tea pot to make some tea for Sasuke. "I hope he likes this, I'm really working hard for him, making his dreams come true. I am not about to let Sasuke fail." Karin said as she poured a few cups of rice into the boiling water. She then began to make the miso soup and pour the finished product into a few bowls and carried it into the bedroom where Sasuke was beginning to change into his training robes.

"Oh my!" Karin gasped as she quickly placed the tray with Sasuke's breakfast down on the nearest table. Karin then leaned down and peaked in through the key hole and smiled. _Hee hee…I am such a naughty little girl. _She then saw Sasuke turn around and look at her direction. Karin gasped and turned in such a way that she thought Sasuke wouldn't see her. When she thought it was clear, she turned and peaked into the key hole once again. He was nearly fully dressed when she looked in the keyhole once again. Sasuke heard a rustling and perked up yet again. "Karin? Is that you hiding there?" Sasuke said.

"Ummmmm….." Karin started to say.

"I know it was you." Sasuke said. "When you see me, you often get infatuated with me and your stealth lacks when you are try to spy on me."

"You learn well my Sasuke-kun!" Karin said as she tried to act like she was _intending _to get caught by him. "You have earned your breakfast!"

Sasuke looked at hot breakfast of rice, miso soup and green tea and smiled. "It smells delicious this time Karin." He then picked up the chopsticks and picked up some rice and ate it. He smiled and sat down and poured himself a cup of green tea and sipped it. "Do we have any soy sauce?"

"Yes." Karin said running into the kitchen and got the bottle of soy sauce and headed into the bedroom and placed it beside Sasuke. "Here you go." She said as she sat down beside him and kissed him.

"Get some food Karin," Sasuke said as he motioned for her to head to the kitchen and make herself some breakfast. "I cannot have you train with me on an empty stomach. I need you at full strength for this exercise."

"Okay!" Karin said as she went into the kitchen and made herself a bowl of rice and miso soup and headed back to the bedroom and sat back beside Sasuke and ate it with him. "So what was your idea for training today?"

"Stealth. Itachi would know a lot about that and I need that to make sure I catch him by surprise and get the essential upper hand in the battle." Sasuke said. "Maybe you would be better at sneaking and spying on me changing. I can't tell you how many times I have been able to do that with you."

Karin then got a seductive look upon her face. "How do you know I didn't _intend _for you to see? You know how much I love you, and how much I love it when you do things like that?" She then crawled on top of Sasuke and kissed him deeply once again. "I sensed your chakra from the kitchen and I knew what you were about to do. I don't know if it was part of your training plan or not, but I don't care. If didn't want you seeing, I'd have let you know."

"Karin…" Sasuke said as she kissed him passionately.

"Don't speak. You'll need this before the training." Karin said as she held Sasuke close. All of a sudden, she heard a knock on her door and turned over to see who it was.

"Who is it?" Sasuke asked.

"Unless I am mistaken, it is Suigetsu, probably wanting to know if he can eat the rest of our breakfast." Karin said. The knocks were heard again and she sighed. "Come in Suigetsu…"

"Hey! Karin, you red headed skank!" Suigetsu yelled. "What are you doing with Sasuke!? I thought Sasuke and I were going to train with swords today! What are you two doing? Are you guys screwing again?"

"NO!" Sasuke yelled.

"Good. I can't tell you how much Jugo and I got annoyed by all the times we have heard you and Karin screwing around. You know she is a screamer right?" Suigetsu said.

"SUIGETSU!!!!!!!!!!" Karin yelled as she kicked him upside the head. "Do not talk about things like that in front of Sasuke!"

"OW!" Suigetsu yelled. "Well he knows about you being a screamer, he's the one who fucked you!"

"I know!" Karin said. "But still you don't need to be talking about it!"

"Fine!" Suigetsu said. "But I still don't want to hear you two fucking again." He then began to walk out of the bedroom when he turned around, "Are you guys done with the miso soup? Because so you know, I am rather hungry."

"Yes, we are done with it! Now if you want to eat some, go ahead and eat some!" Sasuke said. "And I will train with you this afternoon Suigetsu!" Sasuke said

"Fine." Suigetsu said as he went into the kitchen and made himself a bowl of miso soup and some rice for breakfast. "I'll see you this afternoon Sasuke."

"Fine Suigetsu." Sasuke said as he and Karin headed to the ground to train some more in stealth training.

_(Page Break back at the Akatsuki hideout.)_

Konan was making lunch for Itachi and Tobi and Pein of rice and sweet rolls before she took Itachi outside for some training to help speed up his recovery and make it possible for him to resume his normal training he did when he made a full recovery. She was taking him on courses of running, shuriken throwing and kunai training. Itachi was doing a decent job recovering. However, Itachi was still slower, much slower than usual, when it came to his training and his skills. There was a marked difference in his sickness but what got Konan was how much Itachi was paying attention to her. Was it that he was falling in love with her, the same as she was with him? Or was it he was looking at her to judge his recovery? Was he still going to try and get out and meet up with Sasuke? Konan was not about to let all that hard work of hers go to waste and have Itachi get killed by Sasuke? She had a bad feeling all along that she would have to let Itachi fight Sasuke some day, maybe even lose him in that battle. She was staring out along a training ground she had Tobi set up, after much apology (and threats) from Konan. She was looking at Itachi as she made him throw some kunai when she heard something like the sound of someone calling her name.

"Konan…" It said

"What?" She said back, wondering from where the voice came from. "What do you want?"

"Konan…" The voice said again.

"WHAT?" She yelled as a shuriken feel down at her feet. She looked from the shuriken to where it was coming from. She laid eyes on the weakened form of Itachi. "What is the matter with you Itachi-kun? Are you feeling well?"

"Yes, I was just sort of thinking…" Konan said as she looked out at Itachi walking right on over to her.

"What about?" Itachi asked as he put the shuriken away and looked up over at Konan.

"Oh…"Konan said not wanting to let Itachi know how exactly how much she wanted him. "…Nothing, nothing much really."

"Well, what is it?" Itachi asked.

"Nothing. You are doing fine on your recovery training here." Konan said as she walked back to the hideout.

"What is it?" Itachi asked Tobi as he walked in following Konan.

"Konan-Chan won't say." Tobi said. "She's still worried about you Itachi-sempai. She's lost so many people close to her; she doesn't want it to happen anymore. I think if she lost you, she would be devastated. You're her last hope so to say."

"Wow. That is a little more insightful than what you usually are like Tobi." Itachi said as he coughed into his hand once again.

"Let me see it!" Tobi said as he pulled Itachi's hand closer and looked at it. "No blood Konan! Your herbs worked wonders!"

"I told you they would!" Konan yelled as she ran to Itachi and Tobi. "Let me get a better look at it. I learned from master Jiraiya a lot of healing, which is nothing compared to what he said his one teammate knew." Konan took Itachi's hand, picked some mucus in two fingers and rubbed them together as if she was examining it closely.

"What are you looking for in my mucus?" Itachi asked a little annoyed and pondering what could be of so much value to her.

"It's less red. It means you are healing doofus." Konan said as she smacked Itachi upside the head. "I am taking care of you whether you like it or not. Now come on. Lunch is going to burn. I made cabbage and rice balls."

"Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" Tobi said cringing at the word 'cabbage' "I would have preferred some steak."

"Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww" Itachi said at the mention of 'steak'

"Hurry up you two!" Konan yelled. "I am going to give it all to Pein if you don't!"

"Fine." Itachi and Tobi sighed as they walked back to the hideout.


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Naruto okay? I would like to thank all who fav, alert review and read this fic. I cannot stop expressing thanks. I am deeply sorry to anybody who wanted to see this chapter sooner. When you have got 13 stories that need finishing, you can't update them all at once. Well enough with my pathetic sorry A/N, on with the fic!**

"So, what was it you were saying earlier Tobi?" Itachi said as he opened the back door to the Akatsuki hide out.

"Oh nothing…" Tobi said as innocently as a child did.

Konan didn't tell him to say what she was feeling until he was told to or Konan did first. Konan said she had wanted to make sure that Itachi was completely healed before she would confess her love to him. Pein already knew it and was not about to make a big deal out of it. He did not really care who Konan was in love with and frankly, he was glad it was Itachi, one of the best operatives in Akatsuki and not someone who was rather of lesser use to the operations at hand. However, what Pein did not know was how deep the love was or how it would blossom. However, if Konan and Itachi kept up with their work as their usual standard, Pein would not bother them. _Hell, I think Sasori and Deidara had something going on before they were killed. _ Pein thought as he entered the dining room of the Akatsuki hide out. Konan had the sweet rolls on the counter for later, and had four plates of rice balls and some pickled cabbage she had saved from the harvest last year. To Akatsuki members, "harvest" meant whatever you plundered from the local farmers markets. Konan had the plates and chopsticks set out as she began to pour the tea. As she was, Pein walked in and sat down.

"So, how is Uchiha Itachi?" He asked with his hands on his knees, kneeling in the proper Japanese fashion at the table. "Has he made any improvements?"

"Yes." Konan said as she set Pein's plate and tea in front of him. "He is doing really well and making marked improvements every day. I believe that he may be fully recovered within some time next week. It is amazing he even was walking when I first treated him. I have hardly ever seen infections like that recover so quickly."

"You know what they say Konan," Pein smiled. "Love is one of the best cure alls."

"Oh, shut up!" Konan blushed as she smacked Pein playfully on the shoulder.

She had looked up and saw Itachi and Tobi in the doorway looking at her and then to the meals on the plates. Itachi smiled a rare smile and walked in to the dining room. Once there he sat down at the table. Itachi sniffed the food, making his stomach growl. He had not had anything too substantial in awhile, mainly chicken soup Konan or Tobi would feed him to provide him energy and sustenance to fight off the infection. Itachi for the longest time could hardly eat much of anything except soup. After a little while on Konan's soup regimen, Itachi had gotten the ability to eat the soup on his own. He had told Tobi one day when it was his duty to supervise Itachi's lunch of chicken soup, that while he was not a big fan of chicken, this diet of chicken soup would make him not want to eat any more chicken for a very long time. He added with a side note "It's a shame really. My mother made some excellent chicken soup when I was sick as a child."

"But I thought you killed your family," Tobi asked. "Itachi was a bad boy. Why would he miss it?"

"Long story." Itachi moaned as he took another spoonful of the brothy substance with glee. "I do not wish to tell it here."

"Okay." Tobi said as he took the plate back to Konan that day.

Now Itachi was sitting at the table looking at Konan with an appreciative smile. She had guessed his favorite food correctly, or maybe had it been simply she had gotten information about him from another source. Itachi did not know whether Konan had gotten all this information out of Kisame or Itachi had told her and he did not remember it. He knew he was sick with a very bad case of tuberculosis that he was lucky Konan was able to care for him. Something about her was beginning to catch his eye and he knew that something more had to be behind her care of him. Itachi was told of his talents and his value to Akatsuki but he seriously doubted that Konan would spare so much attention to him if not for the fact she had some other motive with him. Itachi brushed the wonder from his mind as he ate the first substantial meal he had eaten in a few weeks. Best of all, it was his favorite.

Itachi took a bite of the cabbage and looked at Konan. "Konan-Chan?" Itachi asked as he looked across the table to where Konan was munching slightly on one of the rice balls.

"Yes?" She asked perking up a little bit, looking up from the rice ball. "What is it Itachi-kun?"

"I want to say thanks." Itachi said. "Thank you for taking care of me. You saved me. You were like a little guardian angel to me. No one was ever that kind to me." Itachi whispered. _Especially not my own family… always about the "clan" _Itachi thought as he looked away a little bit.

"You're welcome." Konan smiled. She then noticed Itachi's grimace to the side. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing I want to share at a dinner table." Itachi said as he took a sip of his tea.

"Oh." Konan sighed. "Maybe later…" She sighed. She wanted to know what was wrong with Itachi. She wanted to know all about him. She could tell Itachi was in pain, more than physical, emotional pain.

"Yeah." Itachi smiled looking at Konan with a smile.

"It'd be best to talk in private." She agreed.

Itachi was not about to let Tobi and Pein know of something that they could do nothing about. Besides, Pein did not need to know his true reasons for things and he wanted to talk about it to Konan alone. Itachi could tell she was the only one who really cared about him and he wanted to make sure she knew it. For years, he was just a pawn to other's wishes. However, Konan's genuine interest in him, Itachi Uchiha, as a man and not for her own purposes. It was a welcomed relief to all the years he was forced to endure in Konoha. _Maybe this infection was something that was a hidden blessing…_ Itachi thought as he looked at Konan with some interest.

Pein looked around at Konan and Itachi and smiled. He grew up with Konan and he could hardly remember her smiling as big as she had whenever Itachi was nearby. Because of the battling in their childhood village, Konan had many problems. Pein knew that they were nearly killed many times. In fact, all their troubles with war as children were the reason he formed Akatsuki in the first place. He was going to create a force so terrible; it would put a stop to all war and strife.

_Well, Konan found somebody she loves, so that is good. Hell, I think if things go well, there may be a little Uchiha running around the place. Well, that retard Tobi will have someone to play with then. Just hope the kid does not turn out like his father…_ Pein thought as he ate the last piece of cabbage from his plate. He could sense that Konan would want some time alone with Itachi. Pein saw Tobi finish his rice balls and poke at his cabbage with his chopsticks. He could tell that Tobi didn't like it. Pein smiled a little bit and then got up to dismiss himself from the table.

"Tobi, come with me. I need to talk to you. Be a good boy and leave these two to their cleaning." Pein said as he picked up Tobi on the shoulder and dragged him out of the room.

"But why Pein-sempai?" Tobi asked. "I want to help out with the cleaning! Tobi is a good boy!"

"Well, Itachi wants to be alone and Konan does a good job cleaning. Besides, she is still overseeing his treatment. Come on! Be a good boy and come with me." Pein said.

"Awwwwwwww!" Tobi said.

"Get out!" Konan said as she got a clump of rice and threw it at Tobi. "You are being a bad boy! Listen to Pein!" She yelled as she threw some more of the left over pickled cabbage at Tobi's head.

"Fine. Tobi is a good boy!" Tobi said as he walked out of the room, dragged behind by Pein.

"Good." Konan smiled as she headed back to the table and picked up the plates and put them in the sink. She packed up the leftovers and put them anyway. Itachi was finishing his tea when Konan walked over toward him with deep concern. "And how is Itachi?"

"Better." Itachi smiled as Konan sat down. Her presence made him feel much better. He had never really noticed her before but something about her was drawing him in closer to her. He felt a pain in the region of his stomach that he knew had nothing to do with his illness but another one, an illness of the heart that only Konan's touch could heal. Itachi knew that Konan was special and he was going to make her his girlfriend, maybe even more when the time came. All he was certain of was that Konan had a special place in his heart and he was feeling Konan was going to be in it.

"That's good." Konan said as she put the dishes in the sink. She sat down and looked over at Itachi. She giggled like a young schoolgirl. She was never like this very much, but now, Itachi was making her feel like she was young and, something she hardly had the luxury of feeling as a kid, carefree. She wanted to know the mind of Itachi Uchiha better. If she loved the man, she had to know more about the man than him being the only member of Akatsuki who didn't have some weird appendage or too many mouths, or looked like he was the product of some weird genetic experiment gone awry.

Itachi smiled at Konan. He loved her, he was now beginning to realize. Sure, she took care of him, but he had a feeling like no other. As one of the most desired men in Konoha before he killed his clan and was forced to leave the village, but not very many girls interested him. It was the stability of his home village that came first. In fact, it was because he wanted peace in the ninja world; he had not divulged Konoha's secrets yet. Itachi had adjusted to the fact that he was one of the most wanted criminals in the ninja world, but some things he did miss. One of those things was respect and friends. Kisame was okay for a traveling companion but that was not enough. Maybe Konan was the thing he needed to fill the hole in his heart.

"Konan-Chan, do you mind if I ask you something?" Itachi said as he placed his teacup down.

"Sure, ask away." Konan said as she put her hand on Itachi's with a smile on her face.

"Why do you love a man like me?" Itachi sighed. "You do know why the great brute Kisame is afraid of me?"

"He says you killed your whole clan save for your little brother." Konan said.

"Yes." Itachi looked down with a sigh. _ I should tell her. I mean, she should know. I have not even told Sasuke the truth but, Konan loves me, I cannot start a relationship with her on a lie. _Itachi thought. "How do you feel about Konoha?"

"Well, my teacher, Master Jiraiya was from Konoha. He was the one who taught me and Pein and Nagato, another one of my friends, how to defend ourselves during the Third Great Ninja War. However, his partners wanted to leave us to fend for ourselves. Hell, the guy with long black hair and snake eyes thought it would be a good idea to kill us all." Konan said. "Honestly, I don't care either way."

"Well, Konoha was attacked by the Nine-tailed fox 16 years ago. Only Uchiha Sharingan can control it. So Konoha's elders in their '_infinite wisdom'_" Itachi said with a note of disgust. "Decided to put the Uchiha clan in isolation in one part of the village. Then as I got older, as I was only five at the time they moved us, I became a promenade member of the village, being the Uchiha prodigy as I was and eventually both the Uchiha clan and the village of Konoha were using me. My father planed a coup and I was the spy in the village for him. On his orders, I entered the village's ANBU black ops and on the village's orders, I was giving them information on Uchiha. I decided the village and stability of the whole ninja war was the best thing." Itachi sighed. He did not regret the motive, but he only wished it could have been accomplished by less drastic measures. The reason he lied about his intention to Sasuke was that he wanted him to be the Uchiha hero and restore the respect the clan once had. Itachi poured himself some tea and sighed. "The thing that makes this more tragic was the Third Hokage was trying to prevent him from it but the elders and Danzo over rid him."

Konan was shocked. Kisame had made Itachi sound like a bloodthirsty maniac. Kisame had said he was surprised that he let Sasuke live. Hearing this, Konan saw proof of what she always knew to be true, or at least she hoped was true. Konan knew Itachi was not some bloodthirsty maniac. She could tell, despite his reputation in Akatsuki, Itachi was not as bad deep inside as many of the members made him. _Itachi is not as bad as people make him out to be. Hell, if you want "bloodthirsty" look at Hidan!_ Konan thought as she looked back at Itachi. She had brought up a painful memory of his life, and she was feeling bad about it herself.

"Don't feel bad Konan," Itachi said as he walked over to where she was sitting. "I am living with the fact, that even though I was used, I saved more lives in the end by preventing a Fourth Ninja War. That's about the only thing I am taking solace in."

"Oh Itachi!" Konan said as she hugged him. "I love you." She whispered into his ear. "You shouldn't have had to deal with that."

"Neither have you living in a war-torn country." Itachi said as he hugged her back. "We both have had rough childhoods that we should not have."

"I know." Konan said looking into Itachi's eyes.

His eyes met hers in a stare. Itachi did not know what it was, but he was compelled to look into Konan's eyes. He brushed her hair back as he did; Konan was brushing his back out of his face. They bent in closer, their faces inches from each other. Itachi could feel Konan's breath on his face. He bent in closer and pressed his lips against hers in a kiss. Konan wrapped her arms around Itachi, holding him close. The kiss felt fantastic, like the best thing ever to happen to either of them in their lives. Itachi held Konan close, savoring the taste of her lips on his. It was bliss, a peaceful and wonderful embrace that brought meaning into their lives. Suddenly, it seemed like life was not so bad anymore. Itachi ran his hands in Konan's hair while Konan ran her hands in his. Suddenly, a childish voice broke the kiss between them.

"_**Itachi and Konan sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage then comes Itachi with the baby carriage!**_" Tobi began to sing as he saw Itachi and Konan kissing in the kitchen.

"**I WILL KILL YOU TOBI!!!" **Konan and Itachi yelled as they each pulled out a shuriken and threw it right by Tobi's ears.


	5. Chapter 5

**As you can tell by chapter 5 of this story, I don't own Naruto okay? If I did certain people would be dead by now, *cough*Sasuke*cough* and some would still be alive. *cough*Itachi*cough* Sometimes I think J.K. Rowling is giving ideas to Kishimoto! Anyway, I thank all who read this fic. Bigger thanks are to those who review and/or alert and the biggest thanks to those who faved. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

"Tobi must get away!" Tobi yelled as he ran from Konan and Itachi. "Tobi does not want to be a dead boy! Tobi is a good boy!

"Yeah!" Konan yelled as she picked up the shuriken. "If Tobi was a good boy, he would know when not to bug Konan senpai and Itachi senpai!" Konan then looked at the hallway and smiled.

She knew Tobi would not go and attempt something so childish again, but, if he was brave against Itachi's power, she could see Kisame saying something similar. However, Konan knew that once Itachi was up to full strength again, he might go out to meet up with Sasuke once again. All of her hard work curing him and treating him would be for nothing. She did love Itachi and wanted him to be happy, but she was not about to let him get himself killed by Sasuke. If he had a death wish, she was going to get it out of him. She loved Itachi too much to let him be killed by Sasuke. She thought of something to do that would have Itachi to herself so they could talk.

"Konan-chan?" Itachi asked

"What?!" Konan yelled. She was rather annoyed at Tobi and was getting frazzled at what was going on. She had hoped Itachi would return her love, now she knew and hoped he was not using that kiss to sneak out.

"Sorry. But I wanted to ask if you called me 'healed and no longer communicable'?" Itachi asked.

"Oh." Konan said. "Well, you are or else I would not have kissed you." She then walked over to Itachi and smiled.

She loved him so much. Nothing felt as right to her as when she was with Itachi. Konan did not want to seem like she needed Itachi to survive, she just loved him so much, it was hard to imagine being happy without him. She looked at Itachi with a smile. _I am glad you are recovering Itachi-kun. _Konan thought with a smile. Konan knew how lucky she was that she could keep a rein on Uchiha Itachi and keep him from his plans. Most of the Akatsuki was afraid of Itachi, but Konan knew that she could tame him. She loved him with all her heart and she knew, or at least guessed, that Itachi would show her love in return. Konan knew she had one thing that no other member of Akatsuki did and that was the fact she was a woman, and knew how to work her feminine charms on people if it needed to be done.

Itachi smiled at Konan. He never had very many people care about him as Konan did before. He knew he had to do something special for her and soon. He knew that if it were not for Konan, he would be dead of tuberculosis and not be able to face Sasuke one day. However, Itachi knew he could not stand hurting Konan, so he decided in his mind to look after her and only go after Sasuke if he was a catalyst for war. Itachi already slaughtered most of his clan on orders to help prevent a war, and if push came to shove, Itachi would do the same thing in Sasuke's case. No one needed to start wars and cause trouble. Itachi joined Akatsuki on "Ideology" in the fact the tailed beasts would create a weapon so powerful that it would cause all war to stop. This fit in with how Itachi felt very well. As a ninja, he understood how the human mindset worked and he knew that unless people knew punishment would ensue from war, they would keep fighting and warring like barbarians. Itachi hated to fight. He then took a sip of his tea and looked at Konan. "You know any good Tea Houses around here?" He asked.

"Well, Yasuppoi Tea House is not too far from here." Konan said.

Itachi shuddered. "Does the tea live up to the name of the place?"

"Sad to say, but yes." Konan sighed. "But in this land, you aren't going to get much better."

"Well, any good ramen shops nearby?" Itachi asked. He was unfamiliar with the Rain Village and he knew Konan knew it pretty well, so he asked her of all the good places to go. He knew that as Akatsuki members, Konan and he could get pretty much anything free, as the Akatsuki was the ruling presence in the country.

"Well…" Konan put her finger on her lip piercing thinking. "Well Saboku Ramen is the best in the area." Konan sighed.

"Well, back in Konoha, I remember this little ramen shop called Ichiraku I remember seeing the Forth Hokage with his wife, before his son was born that was." Itachi sighed. "That place wasn't too bad. If Akatsuki takes over," Itachi smiled to himself, "I'll be sure to take you there." Itachi was only in Akatsuki to help with the tailed beasts and, stop war. He did not like the tactics some of his fellow members used, but he also knew that some of his fellow Akatsuki members were not as gifted as he was, so he decided to only enforce his will if somebody got too rash.

"Awww, that's sweet." Konan sighed after Itachi's offer. She knew Itachi was up to something and he was not about to tell her, as she could tell he wanted it to be a surprise, so Konan did not mention it to Itachi, to make him feel better. "You're not planning on taking me out somewhere are you?"

"My Little Paper Rose," Itachi giggled as he got up and walked over to Konan. "You will see soon enough."

Itachi then looked out the window and smiled. He figured it would be best to head to the Yasuppoi Tea House for the first date he took Konan on. He had been there once before and he knew that at the Yasuppoi Tea House it was a fun and informal atmosphere that would be good for a first date. Itachi had experience with lovers before and he wanted Konan to be the one he stuck with. He was twenty-one years old and he wanted to rebuild Uchiha in a way that did not need killing to stop a war. Itachi wanted to rebuild Uchiha in his own image and he knew Konan would be a wonderful wife and mother to any kids they had. "Get your cloak on Konan-chan." Itachi commanded of Konan. "I am taking you out." Itachi coughed slightly and put his cloak on.

Konan smiled. _I knew he was going to do something like that…_ She laughed in her mind. Konan was glad she had won of Itachi's heart. She loved him so much and did not want to let him go. "Okay Itachi-kun." Konan smiled as she went from the hideout's kitchen to her room, where she had placed her cloak before she finished cooking lunch and put it on. As she came back, she got her hat and got Itachi's out of his room. She then walked into the kitchen and placed Itachi's on his head.

"Why did you get the hat Konan-chan?" Itachi laughed. "It's not raining outside."

Konan then smacked Itachi. "This isn't called the Rain Village for nothing. Now, Uchiha," Konan said. She called Itachi 'Uchiha' when he did something or said something stupid in her eyes. ", put the hat on. I do not need you getting over tuberculosis and get pneumonia afterwards. Pneumonia sets in when the body is weak. Many people recovering from battle wounds die of it, not their wounds." Konan said. "Oh and don't worry, I already told Pein-sama about this."

"Okay." Itachi nodded as he took Konan's hand and walked out of the hideout. "I will treat you so well Konan-chan." Itachi then bent in and kissed Konan on the cheek. "I will make Yasuppoi Tea House seem like Eregansu Tea House for you." Itachi whispered in her ear.

"Yasuppoi Tea House will be Eregansu Tea House because you are with me alive." Konan giggled as she kissed Itachi on the cheek.

"I love you Konan-chan." Itachi whispered as they left the hideout.

"I love you too Itachi-kun," Konan said as Itachi pulled her close and kissed her on the lips.

_(Page Break to Team Hebi)_

Karin was watching Sasuke train with Suigetsu with a dreamy smile. _Sasuke is such a man… _ Karin thought as she looked on with bedroom eyes. Sasuke had ordered Karin to rest up from the training yesterday, so she watched the two fight with training swords for a little while like a pervert would watch a pornographic movie. Karin loved Sasuke so much. Suigetsu and Jugo said it was because Sasuke was a pretty boy but her love went deeper than what many thought. She did not tell anyone, but when she was thirteen, she was in the Chunin exams in Konoha. During the second test in the Forest of Death, Sasuke had stopped a bear from attacking and killing her when her teammates abandoned her. It was this act of noble heroism, which led her to loving Sasuke. The fact he was a pretty face was more of a bonus than anything was. The reason she acted like such a pervert around Sasuke was that she wanted to repay him for saving her life. She was told men were horny bastards before her mother was killed. Her father had walked out of her life hen she was a baby, so her mother developed a bad impression of men. Karin loved Sasuke with all her being and hoped that Sasuke was not just using her.

Sasuke had just pinned Suigetsu in a lethal move when Karin looked up and cheered, "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! That's my Sasuke! Keep this up and Itachi will be dead in no time!"

"Can you shut up and stop being such a loudmouth bitch?" Suigetsu said, "Besides, Sasuke is not all that great."

"WHY YOU!" Karin said as she jumped to the field and kicked Suigetsu upside the head. "I am not a bitch and Sasuke is awesome!" She them punched him and went back to the side of the field. "I hope you learned better." She sassed and then went back to cheering on Sasuke.

Suigetsu got up and looked at Karin. He sighed and went back to training with Sasuke. He was rather annoyed with her behavior and was getting tired of her fangirlism. _God, it's always Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke with her. Something tells me Sasuke may not be as in love with her as she is with him. I know Sasuke and he can be a fucking heartless bastard at times. Sasuke is in love with killing Itachi. I think this kid needs to loosen up a little and enjoy life or he might give himself a heart attack before he can kill Itachi…_ He pulled up his sword again and got back into the stance to begin the fight. "Okay. Come at me again" Suigetsu said as Sasuke went for him again and repeated the move and eventually brought Suigetsu down again.

"Gaaahhhh!" Sasuke said as he fell to the ground. He had his hands over his curse mark. After he had absorbed Orochimaru, and during times of great stress and thoughts about killing Itachi, when they were their strongest and at a boiling point, the mark would burn when he did not want it to.

"What is it?" Karin asked as she ran towards Sasuke and Suigetsu. "What can I do?"

"Come here!" Sasuke said as he pulled Karin closer to him.

"What is it?" Karin asked as Sasuke pulled up her sleeve and sucked on her arm. Her ability to heal others with the chakra circles on her was one of the things Sasuke prized about her. Soon afterwards, Sasuke got back up and looked into Karin's face.

"I love you Karin." Sasuke said as he kissed her.

"I love you too Sasuke," She said after he pulled away from the kiss.

"Good." Sasuke said. "Now, back to training!" Sasuke said.

"That's my Sasuke." Karin smiled.

**Well how was that? Good? Bad? Sweet? Sucky? Let me know in a review. Therefore, you know, Yasuppoi Tea House, Eregansu Tea House, and Saboku Ramen were named from Japanese for 'cheap quality' 'elegance' and something along the lines of plain or average in that order.** **I hope you like this chapter, and this is pretty soon for an update for the story for me. I have 13 more or so that need updating and two plot bunnies nibbling at my carrot of writing (Bad analogy I know) I plan an X-files/Death Note Xover and a sequel to my Invader Zim story ****Tak's Deadly Return**** which I have people demanding one. Never fear though! I will update and finish this. I won't start those other two until I finish something. (No promises though. I know how I am *hides in shame*) Anyway, remember to read, well you just did, and review.**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm.**

_PS~ Any anonymous flames will be laughed at severely. If you do not have the guts to use your real account, you should not be leaving nasty reviews that you cannot even spell right. Take the advice of a girl who delivered a few scorchers in her day. Stop being a troll and STFU!_


	6. Chapter 6

**As you should know by now, I do not own Naruto okay? I thank all whom read, review, alert, and fav. I cannot stop saying how much I appreciate the fact people love my work. After reading recent Naruto manga online and seeing what Kabuto has done, I am getting some ItaKon plot bunnies in my mind eating at my writer's garden. However, I will not say it in the A/N so I do not spoil it for anyone who has not had a chance to read it yet. Leave a note in the review or PM me and I will tell you. Anyway, enough of this long, A/N, on with the fic!**

**WARNING: SEXUAL REFERANCES IN THIS CHAPTER! THIS BORDERS ON LIME AT THE END, SO BE AWARE! **

"So, how are your sweet rolls Konan-Chan?" Itachi asked as he sat back down. He had gone to the restroom soon after Konan had received her sweet rolls.

"Delicious." Konan said as she smiled at Itachi. "Much better than they usually are." Konan smiled at the look on Itachi's face.

"How so?" Itachi asked as he placed his hand on Konan's hand. He began to cup her hand in his and kiss it.

"I don't know…" Konan teased him. "Maybe it is because I am here with one of the best men, no **the** best man I have ever known." She then picked up her tea and took a drink.

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww." Itachi said as he hid his face in his Akatsuki cloak. Konan's comment made him blush a little. He was hiding his face to prevent anyone from seeing him blush. Itachi was not a man would let people see him blush. He was used to praise on his skills as a shinobi, that was to be expected but never in all his years had he been complimented on how he was as a person. He was used to people calling him out as a criminal and trying to arrest him and bring him in for execution. However, he knew how to keep from being arrested and went on his way. Being the former chief of ANBU Black Ops had its advantages.

"Did I make the infamous Uchiha Itachi blush?" Konan laughed.

"Oh shut up." Itachi said to Konan with a slight laugh.

"I did." Konan smirked. "I knew I could."

Itachi looked up and sighed. He had to admit it to himself. Konan had a way with him he did not like many in public besides Konan to see. He did have a reputation to maintain not only as a member of Akatsuki but also as an Uchiha. Itachi never really could remember an Uchiha man blushing before. Then again, he was not your average Uchiha. _Just go along with it Itachi. If you are going to remodel the Uchiha dogma and rebuild the clan with Konan-Chan, you are going to have to get over pride. Pride was the Uchiha's downfall to begin with._ Itachi smiled at Konan once again. This time, it was her turn to blush and hide in her Akatsuki cloak.

"Oh ho ho ho!" Itachi laughed. "Look who's blushing now."

"Oh shut up." Konan said back to Itachi.

Konan could not take admitting her feelings. While she was glad Itachi returned her feeling, she was also the only female in an evil organization of mostly men. She had to have some poise, especially when she was partnered with the leader of Akatsuki. She had to be able to blend in with the guys and still somehow maintain femininity. Konan was only in Akatsuki because her best friends from childhood had started it. However, she was glad that she could have gotten a hold of Itachi before the grim reaper could. Nevertheless, Itachi's desire to go meet up with Sasuke and maybe get himself killed was one that troubled Konan. She needed to know why and get Itachi out of his death wish way of thinking. Konan loved Itachi and she loved him the most when was alive and well and happy.

Itachi laughed and looked back at Konan, "Anything you wish to know Konan-Chan?"

Konan smiled. She knew Itachi could read her well and she was glad that he could. It was a sign in her mind that Itachi really was her soul mate. "Are you sure I can ask you anything?" Konan said as she sipped her tea.

"Anything." Itachi nodded.

"Anything?" Konan asked again with an eyebrow raised.

"_**Anything."**_ Itachi repeated emphasized. "I love you; I do not want us to have any secrets. I do not like keeping up delusions from people I love." He said as he kissed Konan's hand.

Konan smiled. _Itachi-kun is quite the gentleman. I know now that Itachi is a good man for me. He makes me feel better than I ever have in my life. I should ask him, I need to find out what he keeps from me. _Konan took a breath and looked over at Itachi. "Why do you keep wanting to meet up with your brother Sasuke if he is going to kill you?"

Itachi gulped. All of a sudden, his throat tighten. Konan had him. He promised to his word to tell her anything about him she wanted to know and he knew she would pester him until he gave into her will. Itachi knew how she was and if she wanted, she would get information, even if she had to turn her body to paper and use her ability to get why he wanted to meet up with Sasuke so badly. Itachi looked around as he choked down his rice ball and noticed how many unsavory characters were in the tea house. He did not want all those people knowing his background. Itachi sighed and spoke to Konan, "Konan-Chan, can I explain to you back at the hideout? I do not want many of these types to know what the reason is. I do not feel comfortable explaining it to you in public like this." Itachi said with a hint of shame in his voice.

"Do you promise to tell me?" Konan said sternly tapping her foot.

"I promise." Itachi whispered into Konan's ear.

"I will hold you to it." Konan said sternly. "I hope you are not using this to get away from telling me this."

"I will not." Itachi said as he brushed Konan's hair out of the way.

"You had better not." Konan said as Itachi pulled her closer to him.

"You know me better than that my dear Konan-Chan." Itachi whispered as he put his left arm around her waist as he moved in closer to Konan. He then wrapped his right arm around her shoulders and moved in closer to her, feeling her breath on his. "I love you too much to lie to you." Itachi whispered as he moved nearer to Konan.

"I love you too Itachi-kun." Konan said as Itachi pressed his lips on hers, pulling her closer to his body. She wrapped arms around him, holding him close and tight, not wanting to let Itachi go. He was one of the few men in her life who was good to her. Konan knew that she would have to fight to keep Itachi with her, but she also knew Itachi was in love with her. Konan did not want to lose him and she could feel that Itachi did not to either. Konan embraced Itachi as they kissed, feeling as if this moment was perfect, as if for some reason she were to die then, that would be the happiest death one could ever have. Soon, a drunken brute pulled Konan out of Itachi's arms.

"What the-?" Konan yelled as she saw out of the corner of her eye, the drunken man pulling her away from Itachi. He was a big man who thought he could defeat any enemy with his bulk. "Get off me!" Konan yelled as she elbowed the man in the gut.

"OOOOOOOOOMMMMMPPPPHHHH!" The man said as Konan fought to get away. "What did you go and do that for? Why don't you get with a real man, not that pretty-boy faggot, huh sweet pea?" The drunken fool said.

"Get off me!" Konan said as she turned her body to paper to get away. Once she was far enough to where the man could not disturb her, she turned back into her human form. "FOOL!" Konan yelled. "Do you not know the fear of the Akatsuki? !" She yelled.

"Awwwwww, didn't know those guys recruited women. You must be the one they screw all the time. If it was only men, I'd hate to see what would happen!" The man said as he took a drink from a gourd filled with sake.

"What did you say about Konan-Chan?" Itachi said as he walked over to the man with a fierce look on his face. He was not about to let drunken fool dishonor Konan like that by calling her foul names and insinuating that she was a slut. He knew Konan was a woman of high self- respect and knew that what this man was saying was nothing but drunken dishonors. He could not take that lying down. He also could not let the fact this man called him a 'pretty-boy faggot' lying down. In one drunken insult, this man dishonored both Itachi and Konan. Normally, if it were just him, Itachi would ignore this fool as a drunk and be on his way. However, Itachi would never let a drunken man dishonor his girlfriend when he was sharing a kiss with her.

"Ha! So you are Akatsuki too? Rumors say you guys are dying out." The drunken man said. "Maybe you Akatsuki guys should start fucking that bitch of yours more. You can breed members through her!" He laughed with a fierce and deep laugh. At this demeaning insult, Itachi threw a shuriken at his gourd full of sake.

"Now, perhaps you will keep your tongue." Itachi said as he pulled out another shuriken and threw it into the gourd, causing all the sake to spill out.

"WHY YOU!" The drunken man yelled as he saw his precious sake spill out. "You don't know who you are dealing with here! I used to be a Chunin in the Village Hidden in the Waterfall!" He motioned to a headband tied to the strap of his backpack.

"You want to talk about ninja rank huh?" Itachi said as he activated his Sharingan. "Perhaps even you will know of this! I do not wish to use my Sharingan on someone as trivial as you, but you need to learn." Itachi said as he put the man into a touch of his Mangekyou Sharingan.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The man yelled as he collapsed on the ground.

"And that was only a taste of what it can do." Itachi said as he looked on the man with disdain. "Come on Konan-Chan, we are leaving. I do not feel like staying in a place such as this. You deserve better. Let's go back to the hideout."

"Sure Itachi-Kun." Konan said as she walked over to Itachi taking his hand. Putting her hat on and putting Itachi's on his head, Konan left with Itachi.

They headed out to the Akatsuki hideout hand in hand. Konan was happy that she was together alone with Itachi, but she noticed Itachi was not looking too happy himself. "What is the matter Itachi-kun?" She asked.

"I am so sorry that man hassled you Konan-Chan." Itachi said. "I should never have let it happen."

"Awwwwww." Konan said as she held Itachi close. "It wasn't your fault. Besides, I could have taken care of him any day."

"Konan-Chan, that doesn't make me feel better. I wanted to go on a date with you in peace. I feel so responsible for that man giving you a hard time. It isn't right that he called you those things." Itachi said as he pulled Konan closer to him.

"You took care of him; I don't think he will do that again, EVER." Konan said putting emphasis on the word 'ever'.

"You're right." Itachi smiled.

They walked in the rain that had started while they were at the tea house. Itachi was glad Konan still liked their date, even though that man harassed her. Konan was glad Itachi took her out with such love and stood up for her in that time. She had walked this route thousands of times to get goods or to go to the Yasuppoi Tea House on her own, but this time, the route was much better. She was with Itachi and in her eyes; he could make the worst days seem much better. Konan looked over at Itachi and smiled. She knew he was happy when she was. Itachi looked over at Konan and smiled. He bent over and kissed her on the cheek. "I love you Itachi-kun." Konan said as she kissed him back.

"I love you too Konan-Chan." Itachi said as he opened the hideout using the secret jutsu and Konan performed it as well, to enter the hideout. "Now, I promised to tell you why I want to meet up with Sasuke so bad, well follow me to my room. No one will go in there without my invitation."

"What about Kisame? And Tobi?" Konan said.

"I also can put a jutsu on to keep out those I want to." Itachi said as he did a few hand signs by the door to his room in the hideout and opened the door for Konan. She walked in and Itachi walked in afterwards.

"That's good." Konan said as Itachi closed the door behind him. Konan sat down on Itachi's bed and looked up at him. "So? What is the reason?" Konan asked as Itachi sat down on the bed beside her.

Itachi took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then sighed. "Remember how I told you about why I killed my clan?" Itachi said as he turned to Konan.

"Yes." Konan nodded as she saw Itachi put his face in his hands.

"I set Sasuke up to be the avenger of the clan. Because he was so young, I wanted him to think of Uchiha as a clan to be proud of. I said 'If you wish to kill me, foster your hate, and despise me.'" Itachi sighed as he continued. "This set Sasuke up to want to avenge the Uchiha name. I also did not want him to hate Konoha, so I shouldered all the blame for the Uchiha massacre. I wanted it to seem like it was my idea, as if it was my doing and no one else's. So now, Sasuke wants to kill me. I did it because I was ordered to, but I cared about Sasuke so much, I couldn't bear myself to kill him like I was ordered." Itachi said as he tried to hold back his shame. "I set it up so Konoha and the Uchihas could be at peace once again." Itachi then sighed once again; on the near brink of tears at the rumors, he was told. "Thing is, I have reason to believe Sasuke has fallen into the clutches of Orochimaru and is under his curse and may use him as a vessel for his next when he does his Immortality jutsu again."

"Oh, Itachi-kun." Konan said as she kissed him on the cheek.

"Konan-Chan." Itachi said as he wrapped his arms around her.

Konan lay on top of Itachi kissing him deeply. She wrapped her tongue around his and moved her hands along his chest. Itachi wrapped his tongue around Konan's and ran his hands down her body. He embraced her and kissed her deeply, holding her close. Itachi slipped his hand down Konan's shirt. He felt her breasts and took off her bra. Konan smiled, knowing Itachi's intention and took off his shirt and kissed his chest.

"You sure you want this?" Itachi whispered as he felt his manhood begin to pulse with desire.

"Only if you want it." Konan said as she teased Itachi a little bit.

"Oh, Konan!" Itachi moaned, "I do."

"Good." Konan said as she rolled over and putting Itachi on top of her. "I love you so much."

"So do I Konan-chan." Itachi said as he began to enter her. "I hope we stay together forever.

"Me too." Konan moaned in pleasure.

"I love you so much, I cannot stand it." Itachi whispered.

"So do I, Itachi-kun." Konan said. "Take me if you want."

"I do." Itachi whispered. "I hope this lasts forever.

"So do I." Konan whispered. "I love you Itachi-kun. Never leave me."

"Don't worry." Itachi said as he moved in Konan, "I never will."


	7. Chapter 7

**As you should know by chapter 7, I do not own Naruto okay? I am on a major ItaKon kick now and I have a huge urge to update this story. Oh, and on Deviantart, I started an ItaKon fanclub there called simply ItaKon-fanclub. If you want the link, let me know. However, this chapter will be actionier than some of the others. You will see how. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

Konan was sleeping in Itachi's arms when a loud rapping noise was heard on the door. "Itachi…" Konan said shaking Itachi wake.

"Hmmmmph?"Itachi said rubbing his eyes as he got up, put his cloak on his naked body, and got up to open the door. Soon the rapping was heard again. "Be patient, I'm coming." Itachi said.

"You had better Uchiha." Kisame said, "Pein-Sama wants to call a meeting. So you and Konan stop fuc-"Kisame said as a very irate Itachi opened the door.

"Yes?" Itachi asked rather annoyed.

"I was right!" Kisame laughed as he looked over Itachi's shoulder and saw Konan covering herself up with the blanket. "So how was it Uchiha?" Kisame asked.

"None of your business Hoshigaki." Itachi replied with the same manner. "Now, what is it Pein-sama wants?"

"He's calling a meeting of all of the Akatsuki at about 6 tonight. He sent be down here to let you know. I guess he already knew how _cozy,_" Kisame teased, "you two are getting. Are we going to have a little Itachi running around this place? At least he will be smarter than Tobi! I guess you could say Tobi'll have a playmate!" Kisame said laughing.

"Oh yes…" Itachi said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "And you will be the godfather. Go head teach my son how to wield swords that are overly humongous." Itachi added with even more sarcasm.

"Shut up Uchiha." Kisame snapped. "Just bear in mind, I would be a better godfather if you two did pop out a little demon seed than that-" Kisame motioned over to Tobi who was trying to befriend a wasp.

"Oh, hello little bee!" Tobi said as he began to play with a wasp. "OOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Tobi cried as the bee stung him in the hand. "You're mean, bee!" Tobi said.

Itachi placed his face in his palm. "Is it me or is he getting _**stupider?**_" Itachi asked.

"I don't think it is just you…" Kisame sighed as he stared at Tobi, wondering how someone could be so stupid. "You think he was born that way or it was an accident that made him like that."

"If it was an accident, it had to be some major brain damage." Itachi sighed. He then looked at the clock behind Kisame. _5 pm, that means Konan-Chan and I have an hour before we have to be at the meeting._ "Anyway, thank you for letting me know that Kisame. Now, do you mind letting us be?" Itachi looked over to Konan and back to Kisame. "As you are definitely aware, we are in a compromising position now."

"That's what Konan said-OOOF!" Kisame giggled when Itachi punched him in the stomach.

"We are not children anymore Kisame." Itachi said, "I would expect behavior like that out of Tobi, if he wasn't grossed out by sexual relations or even contact with someone of the opposite gender, but not out of you Kisame. Now, tell Pein-sama I received his message and Konan-Chan and I will be there by 6 pm. got it Kisame?" Itachi added with a threatening note.

"I got it, I got it." Kisame said. "But since Akatsuki is not a nudist colony, I suggest you two get dressed." He added with a laugh.

"And if you tell anyone what you saw here," Itachi showed Kisame his Sharingan, "You. Will. Pay."

"Fine, fine Uchiha. Why don't you put those crazy eyes of yours away?" Kisame sighed as he walked off.

Itachi turned around and closed the door to the room. Konan sat up from the bed and looked at Itachi. "Did you_ really_ have to threaten him with your Mangekyou Sharingan?" Konan said as she raised an eyebrow at Itachi.

"Not really." Itachi sighed as he walked over to Konan. "But-"

"But, you know how he is so-" Konan began to finish Itachi's sentence.

"-So I had to make sure he knew that what we had is between us and us only." Itachi said as he kissed Konan. "You don't know how…vulgar…" Itachi said as if 'vulgar' was only the nice word, "Kisame can be if you get him started on it."

"Ah." Konan said as she began to get dressed. "Best get ready to go to the meeting, Itachi-kun." Konan said with a sigh.

"Wonder what it is about?" Itachi asked as he began to get dressed himself.

"I don't know." Konan said. "Pein has wanted faster results on the capture of the jinuurikki. Maybe it is because of that."

"Could be." Itachi said. "Actually would make sense. I am surprised Pein-sama has not gotten onto me yet for not capturing the Nine-Tails. I am pretty much healed up now. Unless…" Itachi said as he turned to see Konan look the other way. "Konan-Chan…"

"I did it to protect you! You and Kisame set foot in Konoha again, I assure you, you will not be able to fight your way out of it alive this time; especially if a Sennin is around. From what Kisame told me of your two's past encounter with Lord Jiraiya, you barely got out alive. I talked to Pein and until I am positive you are okay, I am not letting you go to Konoha and get yourself killed." Konan said as she hugged Itachi.

"Do not worry Konan-Chan," Itachi said as he walked over to her, hugging her and kissing her on the top of her head, "I have found something that is making me change my mind."

"Good." Konan said as she finished getting dressed. "I couldn't live without you Itachi-kun" She said as she kissed Itachi on the cheek.

Itachi finished getting dressed about the same time as Konan. They walked down to the meeting hall hand in hand, but Itachi had a stern and pensive look on his face. He knew that something big was on the horizon and Pein was getting ready to make a move for all the jinuurikki. All that was left was to capture the Eight Tails and the Nine Tails. Itachi guessed that this was what the meeting was about. Pein knew that he was nearly completely healed and was getting ready to make more dramatic and daring moves in the Akatsuki's plans. Itachi was preparing himself mentally for any announcement that Pein would make. If he could carry out killing his clan on orders, almost anything Pein could order him to do would not be hard for him to do. He knew that the time was coming where Akatsuki would have to make grander moves to accomplish their goals.

Konan looked over at Itachi. It was if she could see into his mind. Konan had better a hint what the meeting would be about than Itachi and she could guess that he was getting into the mindset of duty. Konan understood that he could care about someone more than his own life, but she also understood when it came to his duty as a shinobi, he would not shirk off. He did his duty to the fullest and the best of his ability. In fact, this is what Konan loved most about Itachi. He was a gentleman but when duty called, he was an excellent shinobi. He could balance both personal and duty mindsets.

They arrived at the meeting hall. Once there, Itachi opened the door for Konan and sat down at his seat. Konan sat at her assigned seat and got ready for whatever was going to be discussed at this meeting and whatever plans Pein had. Pein was already in his seat when Itachi and Konan had arrived.

"Good to see you Konan-Chan, and the same to you Itachi-san." Pein said bowing politely to Konan and Itachi.

"Good to see you too Pein-sama." Konan said as she bowed. She may have grown up with Pein, but when it was at an Akatsuki meeting, she was a subordinate, so she acted like one.

"And it is good to see you as well, Pein-sama" Itachi said as he bowed in polite honor to Pein.

"Relax," Pein said as he sat down. "We still have to wait for Kisame, Zetsu and," Pein shuddered in horror as he had to admit it, "Tobi."

"Our numbers sure have dwindled recently." Itachi stated.

"Yes." Pein sighed placing his face in his palm in disappointment. "It is part of the reason I called this meeting, I want input from the rest of the members, no matter how freaky they are."

"You can say that again…" Konan mumbled as Zetsu walked in.

"We are here Pein-sama," Zetsu said as he bowed and sat down.

"Good to see you." Pein said. "Now all we need to wait for is Kisame and Tobi."

Soon, a racket was heard outside the meeting hall doors. It sounded like a yelling and fighting as a door was opened to reveal Kisame fighting.

"NO TOBI!" Kisame yelled. It had seemed as if Tobi was trying to use Kisame's sword.

"But Kisame-sempai! I won't break it!" Tobi yelled as he tried to grab Kisame's sword once again.

"You don't understand Tobi, I am the only one it will allow use!" Kisame yelled as he and Tobi walked into the meeting hall.

"But Kisame-sempai!" Tobi pleaded again.

"NO!" Kisame yelled. "Oh! Pein-sama!" Kisame said as he bowed to Pein.

"Oh hi Pein-sempai!" Tobi waved as he sat down in his chair.

_Lacks respect. How could Pein let HIM into Akatsuki? _Kisame thought as he sat down in his chair and sighed. He looked around and sighed again. Akatsuki had lost four of their most talented members in the recent months and it looked bleak to him if Akatsuki would take over at all. Kisame knew Konan was formidable, and he did not want to get on the wrong side of Itachi, and Pein was the last person he wanted to try to fight. Kisame heard that a Sannin trained him, and he even killed that Sannin. Yet he still had his doubts on if Akatsuki could keep this up.

Pein made a cough to get everyone's attention and began, "Okay, you may know already why I called this meeting, but if you have not, I'll tell you. I am planning an invasion of Konoha. That is the village where the Nine Tails lives and I believe that if we take Nine Tails, Eight tails will be easier to take. I believe our main objective now is Nine Tails. We have Itachi's Sharingan that can control it."

"Sounds good to me." Zetsu said.

"What do you think Itachi-san?" Pein asked motioning to Itachi. "You and your Sharingan are a major part of this plan."

Itachi looked over to Konan and back to Pein. His duty and his love were conflicting. He remembered Konan's statement on how if he set foot in Konoha again, he would most likely be killed. However, this was the chance he was waiting for, to capture the Nine Tails again and prove his worth to Akatsuki. If Pein wanted to end war and use the Nine Tails to do it, Itachi knew he had to put all his effort into it. "You were saying all of Akatsuki would be on this?" Itachi asked of Pein, wanting to make sure he had his facts straight.

"Yes." Pein nodded. "You and Kisame will not be alone in this. At the cost of Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, and Kakuzu, I have learned that this effort will be harder than we thought and Konoha will be our toughest battle yet. I think if we are all on this mission, we will come out of it better than the partner system. What do all of you think?" Pein asked looking around the table.

"Sounds good to me." Kisame smiled. "Finally, I can get back at that Mighty Stupid Looking Guy" he said with a smirk.

"Fine with us." Zetsu said. "I am good with disposal of the dead." Zetsu said with an evil laugh that sent a chill down Konan's spine.

"What about you Tobi?" Pein asked.

"Tobi is a good boy! And because Tobi is a good boy, Tobi will do as Pein-sempai says!" Tobi cheered.

"Good and you, Konan, what do you think?" Pein asked. He knew she wanted nothing more to keep Itachi safe and happy but she was as valuable a member of Akatsuki as Itachi. He wanted her input.

"Huh?" Konan asked as she realized what Pein was asking. She looked over to Itachi. He smiled at her. Konan nodded, as she understood Itachi's meaning. He wanted to fulfill his mission and he thought when all of Akatsuki was with him in this mission, he had a better chance of survival. Konan sighed and said, "While I do not wish to move right away, I'd prefer more members, I think this plan may have a chance. We need to all hone our skills more before we do so, but I say go ahead."

"Fine." Pein nodded. "And the more members thing, leave it to me." He said with a devious smile. "Now, Konan is right, all of us would need to perfect our skills as much as possible before we attempt it. Last time Hidan and Kakuzu went there, Kakuzu was killed and we have no report from Hidan. I doubt he was captured but who knows?"

Itachi nodded and looked to the others who seemed to be anxious to go. Kisame looked as if he wanted to rip the Village Hidden in the Leaves to shreds. Zetsu looked ready to eat some of the dead and Tobi had his usual clueless air to him. Konan had a look of deep concern on her face. Itachi could tell she was concerned for him, but he also knew deep down, she had an understanding of him. Itachi smiled at Konan and then looked to Pein.

"Okay, it is decided. I will give all you all two weeks to work on your jutsus. Work hard because as you all should know, Konoha has some formidable Nins. I do not want any deaths from our ranks in this mission." Pein said. "Okay, dismissed." Pein said as he got up from his seat.

Konan and Itachi got up and met together. Itachi kissed Konan on the cheek as they walked out of the meeting hall. "I hope you do not mind my sweet Konan-Chan, but I must go use the restroom. Will you wait here for me, I shouldn't take too long." Itachi said.

"I don't mind." Konan said as she kissed Itachi on the cheek.

"Good." Itachi smiled. "I will see you soon darling."

Konan leaned on the frame of the door to the meeting hall when Tobi snuck up behind her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and grabbed it. She turned around; ready to attack when she saw it was Tobi. "Oh Tobi, you startled me."

"I noticed you were getting pretty lovey-dovey with Itachi-sempai." Tobi said in a manner that seemed to be unlike him.

"Yeah." Konan said suspiciously. She knew something was wrong with Tobi.

"Well, there is something I should tell you before Itachi gets back" Tobi said as he removed his mask. "I am actually Uchiha Madara."

"Uchiha Madara?" Konan asked startled. "I thought you were dead."

"No. Moreover, I am the one behind the invasion plan. I intend to repay Konoha for what they did to Uchiha." Tobi aka Madara said.


	8. Chapter 8

**Well, you should know by chapter 8 of this story, I do not own Naruto okay? I would like to thank all who read, review, alert, and fav. I cannot tell you how much it means to me. Well, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

"You are actually Uchiha Madara?" Konan asked surprised. "I thought the Uchiha Madara of legend would be long dead by now. I mean Konoha was founded over eighty years ago. You would be well over a century old if that was true."

"I know I'm old, don't rub it in." Madara said. "I do not think Itachi told you I'm still alive, so don't let him know you know. I doubt he thought I would reveal myself to you, or expected me to. Let him tell you who I am when he wants to. Act like you first found out from him."

"Well Madara," Konan said with a tone of seriousness and aggravation, "You had best keep Itachi alive during this invasion of Konoha or I will kill you."

"Don't worry my sweet Konan-Chan, as the founder of the Uchiha clan; I have a responsibility to keep the pride of the clan alive." Madara said. "Now that Itachi has found a suitable mate to carry on the Uchiha line, I don't see any reason to have harm befall him. Sasuke on the other hand…" Madara started to say "…well you don't need to know about that."

"So you are using Itachi and Sasuke to build the clan the way YOU want. Never thought the legendary patriarch of the Uchiha clan would resort to acting like a retard. Uchiha is a proud clan. Acting like you did? Hell, I cannot hardly even get Itachi to loosen up and joke." Konan said.

"Itachi would never think of it, and I can tell you it took a lot of my pride to do this. Nobody would ever expect to find a mentally challenged person in the Uchiha clan. It is actually a perfect disguise." Madara said. Soon a flush was heard. "Itachi is coming back soon. Konan, remember what I said. Itachi is not to know I told you. Oh, and Pein is making dinner tonight. He told me as he was heading to the meeting. Something about fried rice and tempura." Madara said as he put the mask back on and got in character to act like a young child or someone who was mentally handicapped.

"Konan-Chan!" Itachi waved as he opened the door to the meeting hall and took her hand. "Is Tobi giving you any trouble?" Itachi asked as he took her hand and walked with her into the dining room. "I ran into Pein-sama in the restroom. He is going to have dinner cooking soon."

"That's good." Konan said, not mentioning anything Madara said to her while Itachi was in the restroom.

"You know, I ought to cook you dinner one of these days Konan-Chan." Itachi said. "Kisame never will let me especially after I made shark fin soup. Guess I should have known he wouldn't have liked that." He added with a rare smile to keep Konan from worrying and to show her he was relaxed.

"Well, we all have our less than genius moments Itachi-kun." Konan smiled as they walked into the kitchen and sat down. "Just be aware, Pein likes to put some spice in his friend rice."

"Don't worry about peppers." Itachi said with a smile. "I am use to much hotter things." With this, he blew a small stream of fire for Konan. "If I can handle fire, I think I can handle Pein-sama's cooking. Besides, he cooked lunch one day you were out. He is not as good as you are at cooking, but he is pretty good. No need to worry about me." Itachi said smiling and kissing Konan on the cheek.

"Good." Konan said as she walked hand in hand with Itachi into the dining room._ I am concerned though. I mean Pein NEVER cooks! I have only known him to do it once… Something is not right. Does he know something I do not? _ Konan thought as she sat down at the table next to Itachi. He smiled at her as Pein came over and placed bowls of sauce in between everyone. Konan smiled as Pein placed some sauce by her and Itachi. _ After dinner, I have to ask him why he is doing this; if none of these other fools ask him first._ Konan looked around the table and could tell Kisame knew something was not quite right with Pein and he was wondering why as well.

"Hey Pein, what's with you cooking tonight?" Kisame asked as he bit into his tempura. "Good tuna though!"

"Thank you Kisame. Well, I thought that it would only be fitting if I cooked tonight. As leader, I asked a major assignment out of my fellow Akatsukis, so I should be willing to do something to increase morale. I know how hard it is for many of the Akatsuki to get a decent meal, so I figured I'd cook for you." Pein said.

"You know I could have done the cooking tonight, Pein-sama." Konan said. "It would be no problem."

"Oh, it is no trouble at all Konan-chan." Pein said. "Besides, I think you are going to be pretty busy with Itachi here soon, what with him still recovering and training for the Invasion of Konoha. We need to have him and his skills in tiptop shape. Using his Sharingan, he can control Nine-tails, making it easier for this mission to be completed with least amount of causalities. We only have five members now."

"Yeah." Konan said. "I will make sure Itachi is up to full strength." She nodded and looked over at Itachi. He took a deep drink of his tea and smiled back at Konan.

"Good." Pein said. He looked over to Itachi. He could tell Itachi was not up to one hundred percent in his health, but he could tell he was getting better. "Itachi, will you be better in the next fortnight?" Pein asked looking to Itachi.

Itachi pulled his chopsticks from his mouth and chewed his food. Pein looked at him and then to Konan and back to Itachi. Itachi swallowed his tempura and nodded. "Yes Pein-sama. I feel like I could be a valuable asset to this mission. I foresee no reason why we cannot accomplish it when we are working all together. I will begin training tomorrow as soon as I can." Itachi took a sip of his tea. "I hope this works for you Pein-sama." Itachi said as he placed his teacup down.

"It is fine with me. Konan-Chan, is it okay with you?" Pein asked as he turned to Konan. He noticed Konan was taken slightly aback by Pein asking her opinion on that. "Well you are the one in charge of Itachi's recovery after all."

"Yes, if he starts with light training and progressively gets more intense in his training, nothing should be harmed in his recovery." Konan said as she took a sip of her tea.

"That's good." Pein said. "Our mission will go more smoothly and we should be able to capture the Nine tails."

"Good." Itachi said as he finished his meal. "I hope you do not mind, Konan-Chan, but I am rather tired right now and need to get some sleep. I mean I have to be in full strength to be effective in training, don't I?" He asked as he got up from the table.

"Yes. I really think you should get as much rest as possible Itachi-kun." Konan smiled. "I am glad to see you taking a more proactive role in your recovery. I didn't have to tell you that time." She said with a slight giggle.

"I will see you in the morning Konan-Chan." Itachi said as he bent down and kissed Konan on the cheek.

"Goodnight Itachi." Konan said as he left the dining hall and walked towards his bedroom.

"You know," Kisame said as he finished eating his tempura, "I think that Uchiha Itachi will actually pull through on this. "When his symptoms first appeared, we captured one of Orochimaru's old medics and made him examine Itachi. Either he was not very good, or he was hiding something from us because he claimed it was strep throat. I should have known myself that he was full of shit. I mean, I'm no medic ninja, I can hardly treat cuts sprains and basic first aid myself, but I knew something wasn't quite right when that guy gave us his diagnosis."

"Well, in the end, I did treat it. I guess that is all that matters." Konan said as she finished her tea. "I think I will retire for the night too. Good night Pein, Kisame, Zetsu, and to you too Tobi." Konan nodded. She walked down the hall to her room and shut the door. Konan sat down on her bed and smiled. Itachi was on the mend from a life threatening illness and was on his way to being the skilled warrior he was and Konan loved. She set her cloak to the side, changed into her nightclothes, and went to bed.

She lay in the bed, drifting off into the other realm of sleep. The next thing she knew was that she was in Yasuppoi Tea House with Itachi again. Only this time, it was after Pein's planed invasion of Konoha. Itachi was sitting beside her, holding his hand on her stomach.

"I hope he takes after you Konan-Chan." Itachi said in Konan's dream.

"Nah, I hope he is more like his father." Konan said kissing Itachi on the cheek. "Are you positive that the baby is a boy?" Konan said. "There is as equal a chance it is a girl." Konan teased with Itachi.

"Nah, the chakra I see is more like that of a boy. My father did something similar about this time in my mother's pregnancy with Sasuke. He said it had the same pattern as I did and one of my female cousins had a different pattern. Moreover, it is not based on individual chakras; it is a little different in men and women. Anyone with a good understanding of chakra flows would know. It flows harsher in men than in women." Itachi said as he rubbed his hand again on Konan's stomach. "No matter. When our son is born, he will be one of the most excellent shinobi I have ever known. With us teaching him, he will live up to the Uchiha name and reputation." Itachi said as he kissed Konan's stomach. "For you, my son." He whispered as if the unborn baby could tell what all was going on outside the womb.

"As long as he doesn't pick on Hidan's mouth, I am happy. We may have regained him back into the Akatsuki, but I do not know what kind of influence he will have on our son." Konan sighed. "Oh, and do you mind if I have Pein be the godfather to our little boy?"

"No." Itachi said as he got up and smiled. "Actually I think he would be the best suited. No one else would. Not even Madara Uchiha, a member of my own clan. Konan-Chan, keep our son away from him. I mean it." Itachi said in the dream with a serious face. "I do not want our son tainted by Uchiha's stained and sordid past. We are making the Uchiha clan better with our son."

"I understand." Konan said nodding. "Any ideas for a name for this little boy of ours?"

"Yes, I happen to have an idea." Itachi smiled.

"What?" Konan asked with curiosity."

"As you know, my younger brother means the world to me. I had this idea to name my son after him even before I was forced to leave Konoha." Itachi sighed. "As you may have guessed Konan-Chan, I want to name our son Sasuke after my younger brother."

Konan looked down at Itachi and saw he had sentimental tears in his eyes. _Even Uchihas can be moved by the magic of childbirth. I can tell how much his brother and our son mean to him. Sasuke is a precious name to Itachi-kun. I see no other fitting name, maybe Nagato but I can see Sasuke working just as well._ "I do not see any problems with Sasuke as a name for our son." Konan said with a smile.

"Sasuke!" Konan said as she rose from her bed, waking up in her room. She looked around and saw everything was how it was when she first went to sleep. "It was just a dream." Konan said as she looked in the mirror beside her bed. "But could it be?"Konan said as she ran her hands over her stomach. "It is possible; I know but was that a premonition of a few months from now? Will we find Hidan in Konoha? Will Itachi and I have a son?" Konan whispered as she cradled an invisible baby bump in her arms, imagining herself pregnant. "If I am pregnant, how will Itachi and the rest of Akatsuki take that one? I mean a kid running around a hideout full of vulgar and psychotic men?" Konan asked herself. "I do not think a child should be raised in that. Still, I won't know until after the invasion of Konoha." She said as she went back to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**See previous chapters for the disclaimer. Well, I do not have a lot to say here this time so enough of this A/N, on with the fic.**

That morning, Konan walked over to Itachi's room in the Akatsuki hideout with concern on her face. Konan's intuition was kicking in. _I am most likely pregnant with Itachi's child. That is a good possibility but it is too early to be sure. I will not be positive until after the Invasion of Konoha. _ Konan stood outside the door pondering what she was going to say to Itachi. It was not every day that something like this happened. _ Well… best bite the bullet and tell Itachi about my dream. Maybe he would be happy about it. _As soon as Konan reached her hand to knock on the door, Itachi opened the door and looked out at Konan.

"Good morning Konan-chan." Itachi said. "I was just on my way to see you. You see, I had the oddest dream last night."

"What of?" Konan asked concerned.

Normally Itachi did not like to talk about his dreams at all. Konan knew he talked in his sleep a lot, mainly saying things like, "Sorry Sasuke, there will be no other time." A change in dream pattern may mean something serious, and Konan knew she could not risk Itachi losing his mind with memories of his past, so she had to find out what it was. _He does not look like he is freaked out or full of guilt, his eyes do not say that, and he cannot hide his feelings well with me .Maybe it was not too bad. Maybe all he dreamt was Kisame was singing…_Konan thought as she looked upon Itachi with concern.

"Don't worry, it isn't bad, it is just ummmm…" Itachi said as he placed his hand on his chin trying to think of the right word. "Filled me with trepidation. I wouldn't be sure how we could do it…"

"What?" Konan asked.

"Well…ummm…this isn't easy…"Itachi whispered. "I dreamed we had a child."

Konan looked shocked yet relived. It was not too disconcerting a dream in terms of Itachi's psyche. "That's funny…,"Konan said.

"Why?" Itachi asked with a serious yet curious look.

"Because I had a similar dream last night." Konan said. "We were in Yasuppoi Tea House taking, I was about I'd say 5 months along, you could see the bump pretty well anyway…" Konan trailed off. She looked at Itachi with a small smile. "…it may be a sign."

"Oh god…" Itachi whispered to himself. _A child? God, this is one thing I ABSOLUTELY do not need right now. Sure, the idea is nice but it is not a good idea. I do not believe we could handle it…_

"What?" Konan said looking at Itachi.

"Nothing. Just the idea of you fighting in Konoha while ummm…expecting… is well… it is dangerous for you and the child." Itachi said.

"Well, I have to Itachi-kun." Konan said as he hugged him. "I cannot be left on the sidelines while you fight and risk your life. I would rather die by your side in battle than waiting for you, not knowing if you live or die. In addition, you cannot tell if I am pregnant or not for a couple of weeks at least. I am not about to sit out this battle and find out I am not pregnant after all."

"Understandable." Itachi nodded.

"Besides, I was talking with Pein-sama and he agreed with me that with the Sharingan controlling the Nine-tails, it should be easy and make it a quick fight." Konan said.

"We should enter at about sunset, twilight maybe." Itachi said. "The village guards are always less alert that time of night."

"I'll tell Pein–sama." Konan said as she took Itachi's hand and headed into the main hall of the Akatsuki hideout.

_(Page break to Team Hebi)_

"You are doing better with the swords every day." Suigetsu said as he placed his sword down and got a drink of water. "I have never faced a tougher opponent since I went up against Zabuza."

"Good." Sasuke said. "Thank you Karin." He said as he sipped some water Karin had slipped into his hand. "I hope you were not trying to do something by it."

"No not at all." Karin smiled as she moved in closer to Sasuke. "I only want you to achieve your goals." She said as she tried to move in closer and hug Sasuke.

"Do not touch me." Sasuke said "_Please._" Sasuke added trying to let Karin down easily. _Unfortunately, for me, Karin is the only hope I have for restoring my clan. I cannot restore it myself. I do need a girl to help me there and Karin seems like she would be a good enough wife for now…_ Sasuke thought as he smiled at Karin while sipping his water. "Karin, you always seem to know exactly what I need."

"I want only the best for my Sasuke-kun. I want to help him achieve his goal." Karin smiled.

"She means she drugged your drink and she plans to date rape you." Suigetsu said as Sasuke looked upon Karin in wide-eyed horror and shock. Karin looked over to Suigetsu ready to kill him as Sasuke continued to drink the water.

"Do not worry Suigetsu, Orochimaru made me nearly invulnerable to all poisons." Sasuke sighed as he walked to the hideout of Team Hebi.

"WHY YOU!" Karin said as she front-kicked Suigetsu through a wall. "DO NOT DARE SUGGEST IN FRON OF SASUKE-KUN THAT I WOULD DO SOMETHING SO FOUL TO HIM!"

Sasuke just sighed and walked away. _I swear, sometimes I ponder their usefulness to me. I need Karin for the second part of my goal but when all is said and done, I may not need Suigetsu as much as I thought before._ Sasuke placed his sword down. He lay down on his bed and looked at the ceiling. _I gave so much up to get this far, I will give up more to get it. Uchiha Itachi will die by my hand and I will restore the Uchiha clan. _Sasuke sighed and looked at the doorway. He knew Karin was going to be following him to his room soon. _What if Itachi has died already? Before I could kill him? I mean it is possible…_ "No. I will kill him." Sasuke said to the ceiling.

"Yes you will." Karin said as she moved closer to him. "I have heard no reports of Uchiha Itachi's death so far." Karin said as she sat on the bed next to Sasuke. She moved ever closer to him, ever so tantalizing.

Sasuke was surprised. How could she know something about Uchiha Itachi's whereabouts that he did not? Surely, she could not sense his chakra from as far away as he would be. Sasuke did not know what was going on but he knew Karin was proving more and more useful to him as time went on. _I though Karin was only good for her chakra skills in sensing and restoring. I can see she really wants me to succeed. I should keep her around. _Sasuke thought as he looked at Karin with a slight smile. _ She may not be as much of my dream woman as I thought she would be, but she will do. _Sasuke thought as he placed his hands on her waist and held her close to him. He was going to make her the matriarch of the new Uchiha clan. Knowing her, Karin would love that title and be more than willing to serve him in any way possible.

"Karin_-Chan_," Sasuke said as he moved closer to her. "How do you know about Uchiha Itachi's fate when I do not myself?"

"I knew you wanted to find him, so in any spare moment I had, I gathered as much intel as I could from Orochimaru's old lackeys as I could. You should know that pawns can be so useful as well as I do. I sent one into the Hidden Rain village not too long ago, as it the last known place of the Akatsuki main hideout. Said he found Uchiha Itachi with a woman Akatsuki member in Yasuppoi Tea House not too long ago. Amazing he lived. Uchiha Itachi did not kill him, as if I thought he would. This pawn I sent there has been known to drink a little too much." Karin said.

"What do you know about this woman he was with?" Sasuke said perking up at the mention of Itachi's whereabouts.

"Not much. Only thing he said was he heard the name Konan-Chan when he came to after Uchiha Itachi used his Sharingan on him." Karin said.

"Oh." Sasuke said. "I see. You have done well by me Karin-chan." Sasuke said as he reached up and kissed her on the cheek. "I love what you have done for me. It is more than I could ever have hoped for."

"Oh Sasuke-kun." Karin blushed at Sasuke's kill. "I only wanted to help you out."

"Oh, you have done more for me than anyone ever has." Sasuke said as pulled her close and began to kiss her deeply. "I think I am loving you more and more each day."

"Sasuke-kun I wonder if you know when I first saw you?" Karin said as she looked upon Sasuke's stern face.

"When? In the Sound Village?" Sasuke guessed.

"You know in Konoha's Forest of Death? You may not remember it, but you saved me from that bear that was attacking me." Karin smiled as she looked upon Sasuke with loving eyes. "From that moment on, I knew I was in love with you. No body has ever saved me from anything before."

"I only wanted your scroll…" Sasuke said, wondering how someone could think that trying to take their scroll in the Chunin exams was a catalyst for love.

"I know. The act of saving was so much better for me than why you did it. You are my knight in shining armor Sasuke-kun." Karin smiled as she placed her lips upon Sasuke's lips. "I love you."

"I love you too Karin-Chan." Sasuke said as he held her close to him.

"We will kill Uchiha Itachi." Karin said. "We will kill him and you will achieve your goals. I know you; you will not fail in this in one bit at all. With me by your side, I will make sure of it. Let me train with you, I want to help you in any way necessary to make your dreams reality."

Sasuke pondered this offer. Karin was offering herself to him to achieve his goals. He knew he had to make the most of this because this person offering him help and maybe more power would not make him a personal lapdog. She was willing to lay down her life for his and do anything to help him kill Uchiha Itachi. Last time someone offered him something like that was when Sakura was pleading to him to not leave Konoha. _I am probably out of Haruno Sakura's mind by now. I broke her heart and I doubt she would be of any use to me at all._ Sasuke thought as he looked at Karin's happy face, a face that suggested she would be happy if she took Itachi's killing blows or Mangekyou Sharingan for Sasuke. _Best not hurt her. She is my best tool and weapon to achieve my goals. I cannot break my tools. Broken tools are of no use to me._ Sasuke kissed Karin's forehead and smiled. He knew this was a good offer and he planned to use it for all it was worth.

"What do you say Sasuke-kun?" Karin said. "I may not be able to fight Itachi, but I can restore your chakra with my abilities and tell you where Uchiha Itachi would be. You know I can sense chakra. I will learn medical ninjutsu and more advanced fighting techniques. All for you." Karin said as she moved in closer to Sasuke.

"Yes." Sasuke said. "My little Karin-Chan will be my right hand woman in the fight to avenge my clan. Then you will be with me in restoring my clan. You have proven your love and worth to me, I will keep you."

"I love you too Sasuke-kun." Karin smiled. "And I will take down that Konan too. I do not know what she is to Uchiha Itachi, but she must be of great value to him as well if they were in Yasuppoi Tea House together, and he called her 'Konan-Chan'." Karin smiled. "Maybe she should be the warm-up. Have Itachi lose what is important to him…"

"Yes." Sasuke said. "Brilliant idea Karin-chan. I am glad I chose you." Sasuke said stroking Karin's cheek as she smiled. "Before we kill Uchiha Itachi, we will take from him the one most precious and then kill him after he felt what I have. Then the gods will decide what to do with that vile criminal. Send him to the lowest bowels of Hell for all I care."

"Yes." Karin said. "We will deliver Uchiha Itachi to Hades where he belongs."

**Well how was that? I knew I had not gotten a lot of Team Hebi in there for a couple of chapters so I put them in here. Next chapter will be where Akatsuki go into Konoha and invade. Some events will be same, others not. I am thinking of having Naruto and Sakura go against Itachi and Konan. Moreover, if you followed the past few chapters, a certain Akatsuki member will come back. Well, ciao for now, **

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm**

_P.S. If you like Naruto fanfics like mine, you will love 's works. I say his is better than mine is even. So after you read and reviewed this chapter, go to 's page, read, and review his works! You will find him in my favorite authors. I honestly believe in giving good and underappreciated authors their due. Check him out! NOW! ~Realm_


	10. Chapter 10

**See the previous nine chapters for the disclaimer. If you do not know by now, you are slow. I am on a kick now and I plan to finish this one here soon, I have two new ItaKon fics coming up here soon. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

"Rise my fellow Akatsukis," Pein said "We are heading out for Konoha today. If we plan to get there about sunset, we need to leave now. It is a good walk to Konoha from the Rain village. Itachi, you are the key to getting in. You knew Konoha, and I doubt it would have changed too much in seven years."

"Should not have." Itachi sighed as he rubbed his eyes awake. "If we take the Nine Tails, we will be closer and closer to our goal. Now, I am packing my things up, making sure I have plenty of kunai and shuriken. I know it will not be easy to capture Naruto but we can do it."

"Yes." Pein said. "Rumor also has Hidan's last known whereabouts in the Nara clan forest in Konoha. If we can go there, we can find him. The Nara clan may be keeping him prisoner. That is if he didn't kill them all."

"Nara is a formidable clan, but I don't know if Hidan couldn't take them, his jutsu works similar to theirs." Itachi said. "Well, we will soon see."

"Yes. Well, let us prepare quickly or else we will not make it in time. If we take Itachi's advice and attack at sundown, we will have the upper hand. Most of the nins and guard will be looking forward to retiring for the night." Konan said, urging on the Akatsuki to get ready.

She wanted to get this mission over as quickly as possible. It was very real to her that Itachi could be killed in this mission. He was not very welcome in Konoha after he killed the entire Uchiha clan. _First, the village orders him to kill the clan then because he does not kill his brother who had nothing to do with the attempted coup, they banish him. I feel for him. He wants to keep Konoha in peace, but peace only exists as a product of war. _The Rain village was often in civil war or battleground for other nation's wars and Konan knew this all to well. In fact the reason no wars or battles were fought there was due to the fact Akatsuki had control of it. _If Akatsuki will be the peacekeeping force in the world, we need to do this. _Konan thought.

"I am ready Pein-sama. Tobi is too." Kisame said as he walked in dragging in Tobi by the wrist. "When everyone is ready, we can go."

"Good." Pein said. "Let us go now."

Konan packed up the last of her items and headed off after Itachi. This was a situation that she knew could not end well. She hoped that Itachi would be right on the fact that if they went in at sunset they would get the drop on Konoha's guard and ninjas. All they wanted was the jinuurikki of the Nine Tails and if they got him quickly and easily, Itachi would be safe and kept away from harm. Konan then headed along and followed the Akatsuki out towards Konoha.

"Itachi!" Konan yelled catching up to him.

"What is it Konan-Chan?" Itachi asked with a stern tone to his voice.

"You don't feel bad about invading your beloved home village of Konoha?" Konan asked.

"No." Itachi sighed, hiding a little shame and remorse.

Itachi's life was devoted to keeping Konoha as safe as he could from the sidelines, spying on Akatsuki and unallied nations via his Akatsuki ranks. However, he knew that if Akatsuki had the Nine Tails then no nation would war with the threat of their weapon. Thus, indirectly Konoha would be safe. _I know my ideas are conflicting now, but I know that if I can get through this, I will be responsible for preventing any invasion after this one. I heard of Orochimaru's invasion and I do not want anything happening to my beloved birth village even if I cannot do it directly in Konoha's honor. The dominos will fall into place._ Itachi thought as he put on his Akatsuki hat as it began to rain again in the Rain Village.

"Pick up the pace." Pein said as he continued walking ahead of them. "We may be able to arrive in the Land of Fire by nightfall. From there it will be a day's walk to Konoha."

"We must be stealthy and careful when we reach the Land of Fire." Itachi said. "Konoha is already on the hunt for Akatsuki so any sign of black cloaks with red clouds and they will attack and be lethal with it. We need to be on our top defense. They will not send squads like those that they did when we drew out the One-Tailed beast. You can expect they will be of high Chunin rank or even special Jonin if we are spotted."

"I get it Itachi-san." Kisame sighed as they walked along in the rain towards the Land of Fire. "However, I cannot wait to pay back that Might Guy beast."

"Just do not lose sight of the main goal Kisame." Pein said. "We need to capture and take in the Nine Tails alive. You might want to exercise caution in your moves Kisame. You stand out too much and we need to simply get in, take the Nine Tailed jinuurikki, and slip out. It does not need to be very messy at all. I would prefer the least number of causalities as possible."

"Fine Leader-sama." Kisame said as they walked along. After awhile, they noticed the landscape start to change and the climate become sunnier. Even thought it was close to sunset, Itachi could tell they were pushing closer to the borders of the Land of Fire. "Hey, Itachi, does this place look familiar to you?"

"Yes." Itachi said simply. "We are about thirty-five kilometers from the border."

"Good." Pein said. "We are making excellent time. When we reach about 10 kilometers from the border of the Land of Fire we shall make camp for the night and be well rested for when we reach Konoha."

"Sounds good to me Pein-san." Konan said. Konan was the only Akatsuki member who could call Pein 'Pein-san' as they grew up together. She looked over at Itachi, Kisame, and Tobi who all nodded in agreement at Pein's plan. _I see. I am glad Kisame understands the need for rest. Then again, Itachi can rein Kisame in and with Pein here, he would not dare disagree._ Konan thought as she kept an eye out for any spies.

"Konan-Chan?" Itachi asked turning to Konan.

"What?" Konan asked.

"How far can you spy ahead with your paper jutsu?" Itachi asked as they moved along.

"Oh, I can do a distance of 23 kilometers when I send out single butterflies to spy." Konan said.

"Good." Itachi said. "We need you to keep an eye on Naruto Uzumaki and find a quick path to him. I want to have him in our clutches as soon as possible. If it seems he headed out on his own to find Sasuke, so much the better."

"Hey Itachi, who died and made you commander?" Kisame said.

"I made him general commander of this. I still have final say but because Itachi knows Konoha and the Nine Tails is his target." Pein said. "We are now at the point where we need to camp. Akatsukis, let's set up camp." Pein said as he landed on the ground and began to make a fire pit.

"Let me do that." Itachi said as he blew flame onto the sticks placed in the middle. He then sat down on the ground by the fire, staring at the dancing flames, pondering what it was he was to be doing and reevaluating what his life had become. His and Konan's dreams from the night before played in his mind repeatedly. Itachi had accepted it was plausible that the dreams could become reality but he did not want the responsibility that would come with it. An S-rank rouge ninja was not a good candidate for being a father.

"Itachi." Konan said as she sat down next to him. "What is the matter?"

"If we do have a kid, we will have to raise them in hiding. You and I both know Konoha will not let Uzumaki's disappearance go without responding to it." Itachi sighed.

"Well the Rain Village would be safe enough." Konan said. "If you hadn't been there as long as you have, you would surely have been killed."

"I know." Itachi said. He looked over at Konan and then kissed her on the lips. "I love you Konan-Chan."

"I love you too Itachi-kun." Konan said holding onto Itachi. "You need your rest. If you are not careful, this mission could send you back to the sickbed if you are not careful. Tuberculosis is not something that is easily recovered."

"Fine." Itachi said. "I do not need to risk myself, especially when once we have Uzumaki; we are in for three days of removing the beast from him."

"Good." Konan said as she watched Itachi lay down and rest. _I hope we come out of this well._ Konan thought as she lay down beside Itachi and went to sleep.

The next morning, the sun shone through the trees, waking Itachi up. He sat up and saw Konan asleep beside him. Looking toward the sky, he sighed as he prepared to head back to the village he held so dear to him that hated his very existence. Itachi closed his eyes in deep meditation and sighed. From the woods, Itachi looked over and heard footsteps. Quickly, he got up and looked around, holding a kunai at the ready, blocking whomever it could be from attacking Konan.

"Geesh Itachi." Kisame said. "You should calm down. I know you are antsy about this mission. Besides, we will go after the Eight tails and our weapon will be complete. Therefore, if you and Konan do spawn a demon offspring, you will not have to worry about one of the nations kidnapping or killing it. If they could that is. Having you and Konan their as parents, that child would be scary."

"BABIES! I LOVE BABIES!" Tobi yelled running over to Kisame.

"Let go you brainless simple-minded fool!" Kisame said as he pushed Tobi down. "It's not mine; the baby is Itachi's."

"Oh Itachi-sempai!" Tobi said hugging Itachi, sending a chill down Itachi's spine. "I'm sure Itachi-sempai's baby will live up to the Uchiha prodigy's legacy, won't it?"

"Get off me Tobi." Itachi struggled.

"Good luck with that." Kisame laughed as he walked over to Zetsu.

"Good. That sharkman is gone." Tobi said, now acting as Madara Uchiha. "Now, I'm positive that you got Konan pregnant, well rumor around the fire is anyway."

"So what if I did huh?" Itachi asked looking upon Madara with distain. "I mean how do I know you and Danzo were not in collaboration? I do not trust you as far as I can throw you. I know how you plan to play things up to your advantage. I hope you did not do anything to Konan at all. You are not to say a word at all to her as Madara." Itachi said as he wrapped Madara's arm around his back. _I have him in a bind here. He is acting like Tobi to most all the Akatsuki now, so he will have to hear me and not fight back. _"I do not care if you are an Uchiha elder; I will kill you if you dare harm Konan, Sasuke or any future children of mine. I have already proven I can kill family, and if this one tries anything, I will happily kill you."

"Oh Itachi. As if you could." Madara said overconfidently.

"Believe me. If I am fighting for a loved one, I can do more than you think." Itachi said as he applied pressure to Madara's wrist, making it snap. "Let that be a warning. Now go back to Tobi before you arouse suspicion. Or not, I don't care about you Madara."

"Itachi-sempai! You're mean!" Madara said going back into Tobi mode.

Itachi let Tobi to his own devices hoping he made an impression on Madara so that he would fall into line and leave him and Konan alone. Pein had been over at the fire putting it out and getting rid of all traces of Akatsuki evidence that they had been there in the Land of Fire. _If even one of Konoha's trackers catches sent of us, we are dead. _Pein thought as he poured water around the area and cast a jutsu to throw their scents, if any remained, in a completely opposite direction. "Let us go now." Pein said. "Konan-Chan, when we are 20 kilometers out use your paper butterflies to find the Nine Tails and a few paths to him. Quickest and secretive paths are the best."

"Yes Pein-san." Konan nodded.

They walked along the path towards Konoha. At midday, they came across a sign that contained a code and two leaf village symbols on it.

"Itachi, what is this?" Zetsu asked.

"A coded sign, only allies of The Leaf can read it. It says, "Konoha, 20 kilometers.""

"Okay!" Konan said as she performed a hand sign and made five paper butterflies come out of her hands. "Scatter!" She honed in her chakra on the butterflies and saw what they were seeing. After a few minutes, Konan had located Konoha. "Itachi, what does the Nine Tails look like?"

"He had blonde hair, wears orange, and black often. He has blue eyes and whisker-like marks on his face." Itachi said.

"Good. I think I have located him," Konan said. "He is near Ichiraku Ramen. The Nine Tails has a few bowls of ramen so he will be there awhile. Looks like a pink haired girl is with him eating a few bowls of ramen. They are going to be there in enough time for us to be there."

"Good." Pein said. "Akatsukis let us move. We need to move quickly to get there in time. Move out."

"Yes sir!" The rest of the Akatsuki said as they moved along in the forest. Pein knew they had to conceal their movements if they were to pull off this mission successfully. If even more importance of capturing the Nine Tails was concealment, so they could.

"We are about 10 kilometers out and sunset is in about three hours. We can slow down our speed so we reach the gates in time." Itachi said.

"I have an idea." Kisame said. "This will make it harder for the guards to see us coming in." He preformed some hand signs. "HIDDEN MIST JUTSU!"

"Good work Kisame, now we hardly have to worry about guards." Itachi said. "Unless they improved since we were last there, they can hardly see in mist."

"Excellent." Pein said.

The Akatsuki landed by the village gates of Konoha and headed past the guards. One of the guards made a motion as if to ask their intent. Itachi simply looked over at the guard and cast a simple genjutsu to put the guard to sleep. _How easy is this? A little too easy. I must be on my guard. _Itachi thought as he went into the village gates, heading down the road that lead to Ichiraku Ramen he knew from years before. Then he took a turn behind an alley to conference with the rest of the Akatsuki members. "Okay, we need to split up." Itachi said. "Konan, where is Uzumaki?"

"He is near Ichiraku, about a block up the road talking with that pink-haired kunochi again." Konan said.

"Good." Pein said. "We will split into two teams. Kisame, you go with Konan and Itachi, I will take care of clearing an escape route. Konan said to me that a forest near by would be a good escape route to go through."

"Good." Itachi said as he got up.

"I will secure your rear." Pein said. "We need to capture him."

"Good." Itachi said.

**Whooo! Long chapter there! Sorry about not getting to the fight right away, I am working on chapter 11 now as we speak. Then, the missing member will reappear. It did not work out in this chapter. Just be aware that I may have someone die next chapter. You may be able to figure it out if you think about it. Anyway, remember to read, well you just did, and to review. Ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm**


	11. Chapter 11

**See previous chapters for the disclaimer okay? Sorry I could not put this fight in the last chapter, but I thought this fight and the aftermath would be their own chapter. Well enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

Itachi, Konan, and Kisame headed toward where Naruto and Sakura were standing. Most of the other nins were off running errands or attending to missions. This left Sakura and Naruto pretty much all alone against three Akatsuki members.

"What are you three doing here?" Naruto yelled. "I know that you are Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki but what about that blue-haired lady huh?"

"My name is Konan. It is only fitting that you know the names of your opponents. So you are the kunochi who took down Sasori." Konan said turning towards Sakura. "Well done. I have to applaud your abilities. Sadly for you however, it will not be good enough against the three of us."

"Why don't you come with us Naruto?" Itachi asked. "We can settle this so much easier and with fewer casualties if you do."

"Never." Naruto said. "I will take all three of you down where you stand!" Naruto pulled out a kunai and headed towards Itachi. Kisame put down his sword in front of Naruto knocking him back.

"Well, you will not have so much luck taking us down when your butt is flat on the ground." Kisame laughed.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled as she headed towards where Naruto was on the ground.

"You stand no chance." Konan said to Sakura. "All we want is Naruto. If you were smart, you would give him to us and tell no one we were here. You can tell that we snuck in undetected; we can sneak out undetected. No blood needs to be shed here."

"You can keep yourself and Konoha safe Sakura, if you just hand over Naruto to us. Now, what is it going to be Haruno Sakura?" Itachi asked turning to Sakura.

"Go fuck yourself Itachi Uchiha." Sakura said getting ready to deliver a monster-strength blow on him.

"How rude." Itachi said as he grabbed her hand and snapped her wrist. "Now, I hate having to do that. I know you are a medical nin and any competent medical nin could heal a broken wrist."

"Like you would care bastard." Naruto said as he got up and headed toward Itachi. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" Naruto yelled running towards Sakura.

"Ah, you are making this so much easier. See the last time you fought Itachi, it was four against one, and it took the four of you to take an imposter Itachi with only 30% of Itachi's power. What chance will you have against the three of us, all at full strength?" Kisame laughed swinging his sword. "Itachi, Konan, do either of you mind if I cut this kid's legs off?"

"Just make sure it isn't a fatal wound." Konan said.

Sakura looked up and knew she had to do something. Not only was Itachi and Kisame back to take Naruto again, but Sakura knew if she could take down Itachi for Sasuke, she could bring him back to the village so much easier than if Sasuke went to fight him on his own. Part of Sakura knew this was an impossible goal, as Itachi could take Kakashi out easily and knowing her own strength, she had little chance at all of defeating Itachi. The odds were even higher against her now that Itachi not only had Kisame but this Konan woman with him too. Sakura knew about Kisame's jutsu but she knew nothing of what Konan could do. However, Sakura was not about to be the dead weight of the team. She swore to protect her teammates and be of some use, now was her ultimate test. _Come on Sakura, you and Lady Chiyo took out Sasori; you can take out at least one of these guys and get Naruto to safety. There you can summon help from the rest of the village._ Sakura thought as she healed her wrist to a useable level and headed towards Naruto.

"You will not take him from us." Konan said. "Your opponent is me." She looked over to Itachi who was getting ready to defend against Naruto whenever Kisame let up with his sword _Kisame should be enough back up for Itachi. He should be safe against Naruto. I can hold this Sakura girl off myself. _Konan thought, as she got ready to attack or defend.

"Fine." Sakura said. Sakura looked up and got ready to fight. "Let's go."

"Fine, but I will warn you, no one has seen my jutsu and lived to tell about it. In fact, Sasori had to fight me to join Akatsuki." Konan said as she sprouted her paper wings and flew behind Sakura. She knew that she could not keep up discreet appearances and fly fully in the air. The wings were for quick maneuvers in small spaces.

"Naruto." Itachi said as he looked over at the fight that was starting between Sakura and Konan. "You and I both know the outcome of that fight."

"Shut up!" Naruto stammered fighting against Kisame's sword which had him pinned down, tearing into his flesh.

"Why don't you come with us? You can spare Sakura's life. If Konan-Chan is hurt badly in this fight, I will use the Mangekyou Sharingan." Itachi said pointing at Naruto casting a genjutsu on him.

"What the-?" Naruto asked as he looked around in the genjutsu. There in the vision, Sakura was lying dead on the ground, covered in blood. Konoha was aflame with bodies falling everywhere. Some of Naruto's closet friends were covered in kunai blades crawling towards him.

"Na-Naruto!" Iruka said crawling to him. "Why? Why didn't you spare my life?"

"Iruka!" Naruto screamed out. "Sakura! What's going on here?"

"You know what you can do to stop it. You can come peacefully or I can make you come. Remember Gaara and Deidara?" Itachi said in the nightmare world Naruto was in.

"You BASTARDS!" Naruto yelled running towards Itachi.

Meanwhile Sakura was holding off Konan as best as she could. Konan was surrounding Sakura with her paper butterflies, making it near impossible for Sakura to use her monster strength on her. _I cannot land a hit. She must have some weakness. I mean this is not normal paper so I cannot get it went and dissolve it. Akatsuki is based in the Hidden Rain Village so her moves are good against it. She said she fought Sasori when he joined Akatsuki…_ Sakura thought as shuriken came from the butterflies.

"Oh!" She yelled as she dodged as many as she could that flew around her. "You will have to do better than that!" Sakura yelled as she brought chakra up to her hand to try to perform the chakra scalpel on Konan, knowing full well that if she did not strike just right and paralyze the right nerve she would stand no chance. While Konan was fighting in her paper form, Sakura knew that landing the perfect hit on Konan's nervous system would be all but near impossible. _I have to do something. Just pick a butterfly and hope it is the right spot. _Sakura thought as she dove at one of the butterflies.

"You will have to do better than that if you want to stop me." Konan said as she encircled Sakura with kunai tipped in poison. "You best surrender Naruto now or else you will die."

"Fuck you bitch!" Sakura yelled as a kunai sliced her in the arm, causing a poison to flow into her system, collapsing on the ground.

"You see I picked that one up from Sasori, only I developed a different poison for myself." Konan said as she stood next to Sakura. "I knew you cracked the secrets of his poison, so I had to modify it."

"Why you!" Sakura gasped as she collapsed again, her body going numb.

"Quickly Konan-Chan!" Itachi yelled. "We subdued the Nine-Tails, let's get going before leader-sama comes in and devastates Konoha! We wanted the least amount of casualties as possible!"

"Fine Itachi-kun." Konan said as she ran off. "Oh and a final note Sakura, that poison takes three hours not three days to fully take effect."

"Naruto…" Sakura said before she blacked out. "I'm sorry."

"Quick!" Pein said as Kisame, Itachi and Konan ran over to him and Tobi by the edge of the Nara clan forest.

While Konan, Itachi, and Kisame had been securing Naruto, Pein was by the Nara clan forest breaking the seal Nara had that only allowed members of the Nara clan to pass through. Pein had it in his plan to use this forest as a quick get away from Konoha into the Land of Fire and back into the Hidden Rain Village and back to the Akatsuki hideout to perform the demon extraction out of Naruto. _This is the quickest way out and maybe Hidan will be here too. Rumor had it that he was in the Nara clan forest. Why he would still be there after this long, I do not know but we may find him here. That would make the demon extraction much easier when the time comes. _Pein thought as he broke the Nara seal on the forest. When he finally did, Kisame came running up to him with Naruto over his shoulders with Konan and Itachi keeping guard out for any Leaf Ninja who may have seen or heard the fight going on. Pein had put a disillusionment jutsu on the area to hide what he was doing, but he knew that a fight would not go unnoticed for long and when Naruto and Sakura were missing, the Leaf would suspect something of Akatsuki's doing was involved.

"Leader-sama!" Kisame yelled with Naruto on his shoulders. "We got the Nine-tails!"

"Let us go now." Itachi said as he ran past Pein.

"Yes." Pein said as he followed after Konan. "Keep an eye out all of you. Nara may have put an alert on the off chance their seal was broken."

"Will do." Itachi said, as he looked around, keeping on the alert for any Nara clansmen or any of the Nara clan's deer who might have their herders running around behind them.

"Tobi, do not play with any deer you see. That would be a bad boy of you to do so." Pein said that as they came up to some freshly dug earth underneath him.

"FUCK! I WILL GET YOU YOU FUCKING COCK SUCKIING HEATHEN SHIKAMARU! YOU ARE SO DEAD! BY THE NAME OF JASHIN YOU WILL BE DEAD!" A voice said loudly and profanely from the ground.

"I think we found where Hidan is." Konan said as she came to a halt right on the freshly dug earth.

"You may be right." Kisame said with an air of sarcasm. "I don't know how you do it Konan."

"Shut up Kisame." Konan said as she began to dig in the ground below her.

"Tobi, you will help Konan dig. Itachi and I will keep guard. Kisame you will help as well." Pein said as he stood around the hole keeping an eye out for any thing that would keep them from retrieving Hidan from his earthen prison below the Nara clan forest.

While keeping patrol around the hole, Itachi could not help but look at Konan more than he reasonably should have. _No Itachi, keep an eye on the patrol so you can keep Konan and Kisame safe. I would give Konoha Tobi, he really is Madara, and I want him out of the picture so any children Konan and I have in the future. I know he will corrupt them to do his bidding._ Itachi thought, as he pulled out a kunai, ready to defend in case the opportunity needed it to be. Itachi did not know how to take Hidan coming back into their ranks. He may be a bloodthirsty maniac but they did need him back in the Akatsuki. Hidan may be vicious but he was also useful member of the team. Removing the Nine Tails would be much easier with him back.

"Hey! A severed head!" Tobi said as he picked up Hidan's head in his hands.

"You dumbass, get the rest of my body you fucking retard!" Hidan yelled at Tobi.

"Don't worry Hidan." Konan said as she pulled out a bag. "I know this won't be to your liking, but we need to get out of here quickly."

Tobi turned Hidan's head to Naruto's unconscious body on the ground. "Damn, that kid got it bad, he go up against Itachi?"

"Yes."Itachi said simply.

"That explains it." Hidan said.

"I've got him drugged to sleep for three days until we get to the demon extraction, but we cannot waste any time putting you back together. Sorry, but we need to get back to the Rain Village as soon as possible." Konan said as she put Hidan's arms legs and torso back into a bag. She hooked his scythe to her back. "Tobi, be a good boy and take Hidan's head."

"Fine." Tobi said. "But Hidan-sempai better not use too many bad words." Tobi pouted.

"Fuck you dumbass." Hidan said. "At least you got a fucking body you heathen."

"Tobi is not a heathen, Tobi is a good boy." Tobi said.

"Shut up." Konan said as they headed out of the Nara clan forest.

**Well how was that? I know the battle sucked, I cannot write them at all. Sorry to disappoint any who hoped it would be an action-packed fight scene. Any tips on writing battle scenes would be appreciated for the future. Now Hidan is back and Naruto will have his demon extracted. What will Sakura's fate be? Will Naruto survive? Will Itachi and Konan's dreams of a child be proven right? Well you will just have to read on to find out. Until then remember to read, (well you just did) and review. Ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka **

**Realm**

_PS~ any anonymous flames will be laughed at severely. If you do not have the guts to use your real account, you should not be leaving nasty reviews that you cannot even spell right. Take the advice of a girl who delivered a few scorchers in her day. Stop being a troll and STFU! Seriously, you have been doing this off and on for over a year now. Give it up. _


	12. Chapter 12

**Awwww, you should know the disclaimer of chapter 12 by now. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

"Something is troubling me Konan-Chan." Itachi sighed as they fled the Nara clan forest.

"What?" Konan said.

"At least you got a fucking body. A nice one too, mind if we switch?" Hidan said smarting off.

"SHUT UP!" Itachi and Konan yelled turning to Tobi who was holding Hidan's head.

"Hidan is being a bad boy, Akatsuki will be found out if you do not keep quiet." Tobi said with a glance towards Itachi that was unlike his Tobi. Itachi had already threatened Madara and Madara knew he could not blow his cover as Tobi yet.

"Fuck you retard!" Hidan yelled. "Why did you look up at Itachi so offensively?"

"Nothing. Itachi-sempai took the last cookie when I made some." Tobi said covering for his Madara side's plans.

"Oh yeah, that's why." Itachi said flashing his Sharingan at Tobi. "No, Konan. Capturing Naruto was too easy. Way too easy. I think someone did something to him before we got there. Something weakened him. I think Madara did something to him. I know he is not that weak to be taken down so easily by us."

"You worry too much Itachi-kun. Be grateful it was so easy." Konan said. "We have Hidan back too; this is a glorious day for Akatsuki."

"Yeah…" Itachi sighed as he looked at Naruto held over Kisame's shoulder like a feed sack. "I guess you are right Konan-chan."

Itachi was still troubled. Madara was untrustworthy and with him on the loose, he did not know what could happen nor if anything was up his sleeve. With Konan expecting and their bonds were becoming more and more known to Akatsuki, Itachi was concerned. He knew Madara would try to kill Konan if it fit his plans. He also wanted Madara to stay away from Sasuke at all costs but he could not figure out what he would use him for. Itachi had to keep on his toes to protect the ones he loved. _Konan, Sasuke and any children will be in danger from Madara. I do not care if he is the patriarch of the Uchiha clan; I have to destroy him in one way or another. _ Itachi thought as he headed along with the rest of the Akatsuki.

"I know Madara had something to do with this in making it so easy to capture Naruto." Itachi said as he followed along back to the Rain Village. "Well Hidan is back so I don't have to worry about Konan collapsing from the jutsu and a developing fetus in her."

"You positive she's pregnant Uchiha?" Kisame asked.

"Good chance of it. It's what happens when they say you should wear a condom in sex ed." Itachi said. "Now leave me alone or I will question whether or not your father was in a shark show."

"Shut up." Kisame said walking along back to the Rain Village.

_Meanwhile back in Konoha…_

"Over here! We need the medical corps quickly!" Kakashi yelled as he found Sakura's body along the ground. "I knew there was a serious breach of Village security."

"I'd say that again." Shikamaru said. "My dad told me the intruders were detected in our clan's forest. They even dug up that Hidan fellow." Shikamaru said as he pulled out a cigarette and light it. "What a drag"

"While you are having one." Chouji said.

"You know why I do Chouji." Shikamaru said. "But this is troubling. I think the Akatsuki came in and took Hidan back. How they knew he was there, I do not know. "

"What's even more troubling is the fact that they broke the Nara seals." Kakashi said. "Nara made damn sure that it could not happen."

"They really pulled out all the stops here." Chouji said. "Anyone seen Naruto lately?"

"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled. "I know who was here! I have to go tell the Hokage now! Chouji, Shikamaru, one of you take Sakura to the Medical Corps now!"

"I'll do it Kakashi-sensei!" Chouji said as he picked up Sakura's body.

"Let's go!" Shikamaru said. "We can't lose any time; we don't know what Sakura has done to herself!"

Shikamaru and Chouji looked around as they ran. They knew why Naruto's disappearance and the Nara Clan forest's seals being broken were now starting to make sense now. _The Akatsuki must have come and taken Naruto and they were the ones who killed Sakura!_ Shikamaru thought as he ran to the Hokage's office _This is bad, this is so so so bad! _ Chouji was following behind carrying Sakura on his shoulders. Once to the Hospital, Chouji waved and headed back to the hospital. Shikamaru followed Kakashi into the Hokage's Office.

"I am sorry to just barge in on you like this Mi Lady but I have reason to believe that Naruto may have been taken by the Akatsuki." Kakashi said.

"What?" Tsunade yelled getting up from her seat.

"It's true Mi Lady!' Shikamaru said. "They broke into the Nara clan forest and dug up Hidan."

"Damn. It is worse than I thought. They already have Naruto." Tsunade said biting her finger in rage. "I was expecting Hidan to be recovered but I didn't think it would come down to them capturing Naruto as well. A lapse in judgment for me. If they did manage to get into Nara's forest then it would only make perfect sense that they would come into Konoha for Naruto as well. They were in the neighborhood so why not get the Nine Tails while we are at it."

"According to my investigation Lady Tsunade," Shikaku said as he walked into the Hokage's office, "I believe it was the other way around. There were two sets of prints that indicate that they had guards around the forest and three sets of prints are heading into the forest, I am guessing when they captured Naruto Uzumaki. Hidan's pit was along the path they took, I do not yet know if it was intentional or not where they entered and the path they took or not."

"Wow Dad, you sure found out a lot." Shikamaru said.

"I knew about the break in a forest when you were with Chouji. Sakura was with Naruto when he was taken, the owner of Ichiraku ramen told me so. What is her fate?" Shikaku said.

"We do not know." Kakashi said. "Chouji took her to the Medical Corps. She was poisoned but we don't know what by."

Tsunade bit her finger again this time, so much so to make it bleed. Not only did the Akatsuki capture Naruto but also one of them had managed to poison Sakura. This situation was getting worse and worse with each piece of news she got on the Akatsuki's latest and successful attack. _Their plans are coming to fruition. Soon, they will control the world. They can use the Tailed Beasts to control us all and if they do… I do not want to think about it. _ Tsunade thought as she looked around. "We need to get Naruto back. As soon as possible. Kakashi, take Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino with you. Get to the Hidden Rain Village and try to bring Naruto back. The Akatsuki left three hours ago. If they dug up Hidan, they should be at the Land of Fire's borders at Sunset. Kakashi, I want you to mobilize Shikamaru Chouji, Ino, and head after them as far as you can. If you pass the border, be cautious. Also, keep an eye out for traps. This is the Akatsuki we are dealing with here."

"Yes Mi Lady!" Kakashi and Shikamaru said.

"Not so fast." Danzo said coming in. "You see I have been informed of this matter and I already discussed it with the Village Elders. They have decided to override you here."

"What?" Tsunade yelled looking up towards Danzo with an intense and furious rage. "Are you saying we let the Akatsuki get away with Naruto and let them take over?"

"No, no. Nothing of the sort Princess Tsunade." Danzo said. "However, we think the ANBU should go after them, not three mere Chunin and one Jonin. We will mobilize at sunset."

"SUNSET?" Tsunade yelled. "If you wait until sunset it will be too late, they would have taken a whole half a days head start. Once they start the demon extraction, you know they will not do it somewhere you can find. Once you hit the Rain Village, no one will let anyone from Konoha pass. Akatsuki control that country. If ANBU head there, they will be killed."

"No they won't." Danzo said. "ANBU will disguise themselves as peasants when they hit the border of the Rain Village about three days from now. "

"But…" Tsunade began.

"I am sorry but this is the plan approved by the Village Elders and they will not allow anything else. Matters like this require skill, not negotiations. Just like the Uchihas." Danzo smirked.

"Huh? What about the Uchihas?" Shikamaru asked.

"Oh nothing," Danzo said. "And Kakashi, you are asked to come along as well, as many times as you fought Akatsuki members."

"Sorry, I have another mission to attend to." Kakashi snapped.

"What?" Danzo commanded in a cool voice that let everyone know he was angry about Kakashi's response to him.

"He is going to keep the Village and the Hokage safe while ANBU is gone. I can call on former ANBU when you take all of mine. Right?" Tsunade asked.

"I guess." Danzo said. "Best of luck to you." _Yes because I am only sending ANBU to the Land of Fire border for a while. I will say Rain Village hoping to get the ABNU killed. I will say you gave us faulty information and that caused the downfall of the plan. I can use my power over ANBU and the elders to get my way. I will give the ANBU a route that takes longer than 3 days to complete and by that time, the Nine Tails will be extracted, Naruto dead and all my opposition gone. Except for that Haruno girl but she can be convinced otherwise._ Danzo thought as he headed to the ANBU offices to give them their orders.

_At the Border of the Land of Fire._

"Let us pick up our speed." Pein said as he got up from Resting at the border. "I know our presence won't be undetected. We made it out of the Land of Fire. Now all we have to do is head to the hideout to extract the demon. The Land of Rivers is a half a day from here. We will begin the ceremony there. They will expect the Rain Village. I have constructed a new hideout for reasons like this."

"Good." Kisame said as he secured Naruto better. "I can't wait to extract the demon from this kid. "We should come to the hideout in the morning. Because we are all physically here, we could get the extraction done in less time. I hope."

"We are down three members. It will take 3 days and nights." Pein said.

"Fine." Itachi said. "Sooner we start the sooner we will be finished."

"Itachi, may I speak to you in private while we walk?" Konan asked.

"Sure. I will get Tobi to carry Hidan for a while. TOBI!" Itachi yelled as Tobi ran to them.

"Yes Itachi-sempai!" Tobi saluted. "What can I do for you?" He added with a snide, disrespectful tone that only Itachi and Konan could hear.

"I am getting tired of carrying Hidan. What I need you to do is-wait can you sew?" Konan said.

"Yes, I learned to sew Konan-sempai. I made my own stuffed animals!" Tobi said as he held up a poorly stitched together bear with an eye falling off.

Hidan looked over in disgust at Tobi's abysmal sewing performance. "You expect me to let that fucking dumbass sew me back together ?' Hidan yelled at Konan. "I will let that retard carry me but you had better fucking sew me back together when we get to the place where we suck the demon out of that heathen!"

"Hidan let Tobi sew you together." Pein said. "Konan will fix you when we get back to the hideout."

"Fine." Hidan said as Konan gave Tobi the basket that had Hidan's body in it to him.

Konan headed over towards Itachi making sure the conversation was not to be overheard by any of their fellow Akatsukis. Earlier that day, Konan had performed a jutsu to test if she was pregnant or not. She was not about to tell anyone but she had been nauseous and light headed that morning. She knew it could be a sign of pregnancy. The fact she had a dream of her and Itachi in Yasuppoi Tea House while she was about 5 months pregnant was also disturbing to her. Itachi had the same dream at the same time, so it was a sign in her eyes.

"Umm… Itachi-kun…" Konan started.

"What?" Itachi asked holding Konan's hand smiling at her.

"I did the Pregnancy test Jutsu today and it came back positive." Konan said. It took more than she thought to admit to Itachi she that was pregnant when they both expected something like that to happen.

"Wonderful." Itachi said with a slight teary-eyed smile. "We really are going to have a family of our own. Now try not to do anything dangerous until the baby is born."

"Our little baby Sasuke." Konan smiled.

"Huh?" Itachi asked.

"In my dream, you wanted to name our baby Sasuke, after your brother. If it was a boy, we hadn't decided on a girl name but you were certain the baby was a boy." Konan explained.

"Sounds good to me." Itachi said as he kissed Konan on the cheek. "Let's discuss this more once the demon is extracted."

"Good." Konan smiled. "You will be an excellent father. I love you Itachi-kun."

"I love you too Konan-Chan and you will be an excellent mother." Itachi said as he kissed Konan passionately on the lips.

"God, get a room you two." Kisame sassed.

**Well how was that? Good? Bad? Drama-ey? Sappy? Let me know in a review. I am working on some of my other stories now, seeing as I got a rabid fan on ****Tak's Deadly Vengeance**** so I am going to work on that. Sorry I broke my promise on when I would update. I had problems come up and could not. Sorry. However, this should be done by the end of 2011. I hope you liked this chapter and the end made you feel all mushy inside. Ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm.**

_P.S. If you like Naruto fanfics like mine, you will love Dr-Lovekill's works. I say his is better than mine is even. So after you read and reviewed this chapter, go to his page, read, and review his works! You will find him in my favorite authors. I honestly believe in giving good and underappreciated authors their due. Check him out! NOW!(Or suffer my wrath!) ~Realm_


	13. Chapter 13

**I do not own….well you should know by chapter 13 that I do not own Naruto. I hope to get this one done by the end of the year and I have 11 months left so unless something happens, (God-fucking-forbid) I should have this done by then and the child in the story born by summer. No promises, I will do my best. Well enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

"Let us begin the jutsu," Pein said as he summoned the platform to begin extracting the demon out of Naruto. "It will take us three days and nights."

"Would it take any less time if we used more chakra because we are all physically here now?" Kisame asked.

"I do not know for certain, all I know is it should take the same amount of time. The sooner we start the better." Pein said. "Let's go."

"Fine with me." Konan said and Itachi nodded. He was concerned that her newfound pregnancy would drain her chakra. However, Itachi also knew that Konan was quite resilient and could hold out for as long as possible as, even longer than what some would expect t of her. _I hope she is okay… _Itachi thought as they began the jutsu.

_(Page break to Team Hebi headquarters)_

"So Karin, I see you have gotten much better." Sasuke said as he rubbed a bruise that he got in the last training fight with Karin. "Well done."

"You'll love this one too." Karin said as she headed over and began to heal the bruise.

"Nice work my lovely Karin." Sasuke said kissing her on the forehead.

"Oh Sasuke-kun!" Karin said hugging him with such a force that she was beginning to cause him pain.

"Okay, Karin-Chan, you can let go now!"Sasuke said pulling himself from her arms. "That hurts."

"Oh! Sorry Sasuke-kun!" Karin blushed letting go of Sasuke.

Karin walked back to their hideout with a smile on her face. In order to help Sasuke kill Itachi, she suggested they kill Konan beforehand, after learning of her and Itachi's relationship. She also knew that it would be difficult. If Itachi got wind of them going after Konan would mean he would be one to kill them, so Karin and Sasuke both had to greatly improve their skills so they could defeat either Itachi or Konan and be ready for the next battle. Sasuke stated both Konan and Itachi were very skilled for being in Akatsuki, so they had to be more so. If they got Itachi first, Konan would be ready to kill them.

If they got Konan, either Itachi would be morose and easier to kill or a risk of being filled with righteous fury and go after them.

Karin sat down and looked at some assignments she had written down keeping track of Jugo and Suigetsu. She had sent them on reconnaissance missions to find out what was going on in the other lands and if Itachi Uchiha had been killed or was spotted and any information on him and his skills at the time. Karin was confident Sasuke could take him, but she had wanted be positive. _No way in hell am I going to let my precious Sasuke-kun get killed by that damned Itachi!_ Karin thought as she looked around to see if Suigetsu or Jugo had come back or sent a message to them.

The door creaked open and Sasuke walked inside. "Any news Karin?" He asked.

"Nope." Karin sighed. "I have not heard much lately. I also am worried about Konoha. No news from there about anything abnormal has been sent. Thing is the news I got today was a little too positive. Something tells me something horrible happened there and they need to boost morale."

"You don't think the Akatsuki captured Naruto do you?" Sasuke said sitting down across from Karin. "I know for a fact Konoha would not let that slip out. They are the most influential of all the Five Great Nations, a blow like that would shake them to the core."

"Could be. I was toying with that idea myself." Karin nodded. "However, I need conformation on that. I am not letting us move with speculation. Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups."

"Where did you learn that?" Sasuke asked, never seeing Karin this serious before.

"From my mother in the civil war my land had. She would never let me out unless she knew it was okay." Karin sighed.

"Oh." Sasuke said. "If that seneraro was true you know what that would mean?"

"Not really, all I know is Akatsuki wants all the Tailed Beasts and can then use it for control." Karin sighed.

"We know they have 7 of the 9 from that guy we captured but that would mean they have Naruto and are almost close to making their goal complete." Sasuke said tightening his grip on the sword he had in his belt at the time. "Damn that Uchiha Itachi."

Sasuke would never admit this to anyone let alone himself but if the Akatsuki had indeed captured Naruto, his desire for revenge would grow deeper. As much as he told Naruto and Sakura that they did not mean a thing to him, deep down, the memories of their rookie days as Team 7 were something that helped to comfort him in his darkest times. Sasuke always convinced him that the path he chose was the best, so it was hard to deal with his past. Once his suspicions were proven right, he was going to go after all he could to get back at Naruto's death. He had let him live so he could live with the fact he did not get power exactly like Itachi and he was not about to let his torture when he tried to save him go to waste.

"I know, damn him to Hell." Karin said trying to encourage Sasuke to keep going toward his goal. She was not going to let him fail at all.

"We will avenge all the jinuurikki and Uchiha when bring down Akatsuki." Sasuke said as he pulled out his snake sword wondering on his revenge.

_(Three days later….)_

"The jutsu is now complete." Pein said as he finished the summons. "You are dismissed; wait for my signal to regroup. We need to hide here for a little while so any enemies from Konoha will not find us."

"Yes, no doubt they have sent teams." Itachi said. "I know how fast they came when we capture the One-Tail"

"Yes. I had us come here to do the extraction for that reason. They will head to the Rain Village where we have control and use our citizenry of that village to destroy them for us. I do not care if they bring in ANBU; I trained enough of the people to put up a fight. I even left a few of my special summons there to fight them as well." Pein said with extreme certainty.

"Good." Konan said a note fainter than usual after a demon extraction.

Itachi looked over with concern. He and Kisame were the only ones who knew of Konan's pregnancy with certainty. Kisame did not care too much about the child. Itachi was worried about Pein. He could handle Hidan, but Pein had been friends with Konan since she was a child so he was concerned on how he would take it. Pein did not object to them being together, but this child would be a line that Itachi worried he would not be very approving of.

"Zetsu, dispose of the body in a way that will send a message to all the Nations," Pein ordered. "If you attempt to interfere with Akatsuki and your fate will be the same."

"Yes sir." Zetsu said taking the body. "I will leave it in the Rain Village with your message."

"Good." Pein said. "The rest of you should take some time to recuperate."

Itachi then walked over to Konan and sat down, placing his hands on her shoulders, massaging the tension out of them. She looked over and smiled. "I see little ill effects then huh?"

"See yes. However, I hated holding back the nausea I felt each morning." Konan sighed. "I'm glad I can rest a little now."

"Yes, rest." Itachi said kissing her on the forehead. "I will keep an eye on you."

"You will need your rest too Itachi," Konan snapped. "You will not be so old fashioned and noble to put your own health at risk for me. I will take the first rest you get second alright?"

"Fine." Itachi said.

"When you're awake again Konan, why don't you fix my fucking arm?" Hidan said holding his left arm in his right hand. "That fucking dumbass retard Tobi sewed it up horribly!"

"I will!" Konan said throwing a rock at Hidan's head. "Now will you shut the fuck up you profane shitmouth!"

"Fine." Hidan said sulking off.

_I promise you Konan-Chan, I swear, I will keep you and our child safe if it kills me. I have little to live for, so you will be what I live for now. While I still want to have that final confrontation with Sasuke one day, it will be after our son becomes a man in his own right…_Itachi thought as he kept an eye towards the entrance of the cave. He knew this was a fight he was ill equipped to handle coming up. _I hope no dangerous action is taken soon. Konan cannot take that and I am not about to die before the child is old enough to be able to take care of himself. I swear to protect him. _Itachi thought as he saw Konan sleeping behind him.

_(Page break back to Team Hebi)_

"Any word yet from Suigetsu or Jugo yet?" Sasuke asked one morning as Karin prepared breakfast for the both of them.

"Nope." Karin said. _And I do not care if Suigetsu ever comes back! _Karin thought as she finished up the rice.

"Oh, I hate not being able to do much in the war against Akatsuki." Sasuke said looking at the food Karin had just served him. Karin did not mind as much, she was content having Sasuke all to herself. Now that Suigetsu was on an assignment Sasuke approved of, Karin was content as could be. She was never hoping it would never end, but she knew even though she would not admit that it would soon. _Please let Jugo be the one to deliver any news. I cannot fucking stand that dick Suigetsu…_ Karin thought as she sat down to eat her breakfast.

"How is it Sasuke-kun?" Karin asked looking over towards Sasuke with a passionate look.

"'_How is it Sasuke-kun?'_" Suigetsu mocked as he walked into his hideout. "Well, bad news Sasuke, Akatsuki has the Nine-Tails. Uzumaki Naruto is dead. They extracted his demon"

Sasuke dropped his chopsticks in rage. "They are going to pay. I will be the lone warrior who will make them pay with my team. We will bring down Itachi, Konan, and all the Akatsuki and take care of the Tailed beasts once and for all. My Sharingan can control the Nine-Tails and I can use that against anyone who will oppose me once and for all."

"Okay, psycho a little too much Sasuke-dude?" Suigetsu asked as he sat down and took Karin's bowl of rice from right in front of her.

"SUIGETSU!" She yelled as she kicked him from the table through the wall. "THAT WAS MINE IF YOU WANTED SOME YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED!" She sat back down looking at the hole in the wall. "You are fixing that."

Suigetsu looked at Karin with shock. "WHAT? You were the one who kicked me through the fucking all in the fucking first place!"

"You stole my breakfast you fucking piece of shit!" Karin yelled back at him.

"You kicked me you slut!" Suigetsu said. "How do I know you didn't send me on this mission so you could fuck Sasuke?"

"YOU ARE SO FUCKING DEAD SUIGETSU!" Karin yelled.

"It's too early for this…" Sasuke sighed as he ate his rice.

**So how was that? Good? Bad? Funny? Caps abuse violent? Let me know in a review. I am stuck a little on how to take it and whether I should skip right to the birth or not in a few chapters. Let me know in a review. ****Ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm.**


	14. Chapter 14

**If you do not know by Chapter 14 that I do not own Naruto, you never will. Okay, thanks to some input I got from Death Goblin, I now have an idea of where to take this chapter. So, thanks again and enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

"She's sick again isn't she?" Kisame asked one morning waiting for the bathroom. Konan was experiencing the early stages of her pregnancy and it was not bearing on her too well.

"Yes." Itachi sighed as he placed his hand in his bangs. Konan's morning sickness would also come during the night and Itachi was always awoken by her heading to the restroom to throw up. _And I thought morning sickness during pregnancy was morning only._ Itachi sighed as he waited outside the restroom for Konan. Itachi had always been there for her in her pregnancy-induced weakness, but he could not shake the guilt he had. None of them had used protection, and as the man he was, he could not help but feel responsible for causing Konan so much discomfort yet a little part of him was kind of the fact she would be having his child

"Has she told Pein-sama yet?" Kisame asked.

"Yes she has." Itachi said rubbing his eyes from sleeplessness. "He seems glad that we can bring a child up in Akatsuki's values."

"Ah." Kisame nodded. _Geesh that hard to recruit huh? _Kisame thought. _Well I can see why he would think like that. Uchihas are rare, only two left and now there will be a third raised in Akatsuki ways so we will become a force to be reckoned with._ "You are going to make Konan an honest woman?"

"What?" Itachi asked a little shocked by Kisame's question. Sure, he loved Konan and wanted to protect her and their child, but marriage?

"Marry her." Kisame said.

"What's it to you?" Itachi said regaining his composure. "Since when have my relations with Konan-Chan been any business of yours?"

"Nothing." Kisame sassed. "But my family was very old-fashioned."

"And you ended up looking like a shark." Itachi sassed.

"I will call your family's weirdness out-oh wait you killed all but one!" Kisame yelled at him.

"Forget it Kisame you baka." Itachi said walking to his room again. He sat down on the bed looking out the window. It rained often, and Itachi sighed. _It never stops. I guess that is the name Rain Village then…_ He thought as he looked at the window he sighed, dreaming of what the next few months would hold. Konan was approaching an important time in the pregnancy she was about three months along and beginning to show a little bit. What worried Itachi the most was the imposing force being pressed on Akatsuki after the death of Naruto.

Konoha was up in arms and trying to raise the other villages to fight. However, the only village that would ally with Konoha in this case was Suna, and even then, they were reluctant to help. Gaara, the Kazakage swore to help in whatever way the village could, but most villagers did not want any part. They thought if they stayed out of the way, Akatsuki would leave them alone. People in all the great nations thought if they stayed out, Akatsuki would let them be. Most were willing to let them have their jinuurikki in exchange for leaving them alone. The message sent by the capture of Naruto was clear: Akatsuki is near their goals, so you had better let us be or you will pay dearly in lives.

_I guess this fear stalemate may work after all. We only have Eight-tails left to capture but Pein said Kisame and Hidan would handle that. I just have to keep "Tobi" away from the child. Madara is using a Tobi persona to get in but he will not have a hold on my child. I will create a new branch of Uchiha the way I intended to. _Itachi thought as he stared at the ceiling. A knock was heard at the door. Itachi grabbed his kunai and said, "Come in."

"Itachi-kun…" Konan said lying down on the bed.

"Relax. I happen to remember my mother's old morning sickness remedy." Itachi said. "Peppermint tea and a food of your craving. She did that a lot before Sasuke was born. She'd eat a lot of spicy rice balls and sweets would make her stomach turn." He said reminiscing.

"Okay." Konan said, "Bring me some sashimi with it."

"Okay my love. I am responsible for how you are feeling right now, so I will help you as much as I can." Itachi said kissing her on the head, heading to the kitchen. He pulled out the things to make sashimi and peppermint tea.

"Goddamn! I can tell the great Itachi Uchiha is paying the price for fucking without a condom." Hidan laughed.

"Shut up or I will cut you apart and bury you in Tobi's dirty clothes." Itachi said rubbing his eyes. "I am not going to get sleep for about two years now."

"Well yeah, you won't but that's the price you pay." Hidan said. "You know I am actually good with kids."

Itachi looked over at him quizzically. Things just did not add up. Hidan was the last person in the world he would expect to be good with children. He was bloodthirsty and violent and did not care about anything but worshiping Jashin. Unless Jashinism was one that was good to children, Itachi was confused. "Okay, why?"

"I can teach him all my moves." Hidan laughed.

"Yeah, right because he will know what I do. And you are not teaching him to talk." Itachi said. "I do not want him to learn your mouth."

"Fuck you Itachi." Hidan said walking off.

Itachi had finished the food he had for Konan and walked back to where she was sitting on his bed. She had a pale color to her that Itachi knew was due to her pregnancy. Once she settled her stomach, she would be able to guard Akatsuki's hideout as she was supposed to. It had been Pein's decision that Konan should be kept as safe as possible. She was carrying the new generation of Akatsuki and should not be disturbed. Itachi and Pein would sometimes go on patrols of the Rain Village, but they never strayed too far from Akatsuki's main base. Pein had ordered Itachi close to help out Konan and also to protect one of Akatsuki's most skilled operatives.

Pein was now contemplating when to send Kisame, Tobi, and Hidan after the Eight-Tails. He knew the guard would be up, seeing as Killer Bee was closely protected by his village. _The sooner the better… but I do not need to risk three agents before we have more. Konan's child will not be ready for a decade at least, knowing his father's skills and genius anyway, I do not need to be sending our agents on such suicidal missions with such low numbers._ A knock was then heard, interrupting Pein's train of thought. "Come in." he said.

"Leader-sama, I am here for the details of the mission." Kisame said. "Who am I taking with me to capture the Eight-tails?"

"Hidan and Tobi." Pein said noticing Kisame roll his eyes in frustration. "Look, Konan is pregnant as you all know with an Uchiha baby. Akatsuki needs that child to live and thrive in our ways. If he turns out anything like his father, he will be an invaluable asset to Akatsuki. Uchiha Itachi already brought in the nine tails. Besides the Rain Village needs a few powerful agents guarding the borders of this nation with Suna and Konoha trying to invade and capture Akatsuki. All things I had calculated for, no way Konoha would let the Nine Tails out of their nation without trying to declare war on us. Luckily they only have one village ally with them this time."

"Could I have a little more help?" Kisame sighed. "Hidan will tear him to pieces and Tobi will be useless."

"Fine." Pein said doing some hand signs. "SUMMONING JUTSU!" and one of Pein's human summons showed up. "Obey all of Kisame's orders in capturing the Eight-Tails. Got it?" He asked with the summons nodding.

"Leader-sama?" Kisame asked not quite comprehending what was going on.

"You have one sixth of my power available to help you. If you cannot capture the Eight Tails with that much assistance Hoshigaki," Pein looked over at Kisame with a stern glare, "there will be consequences. Got it?"

"Yes sir, Leader-sama sir," Kisame said.

"Good, now get on it!" Pein yelled. "Get Hidan and Tobi, find the Eight Tails, and bring him back alive!"

"Yes sir!" Kisame said as he shut the door with the summons.

Meanwhile, Itachi was outside, patrolling the compound, keeping an eye out for any enemy that may decide to come into the Rain Village. "Good thing we have the villagers on our side when it comes to defending the borders." Itachi sighed as he placed his hat on in the worsening rain. "Konan-Chan will kill me if I catch pneumonia from this weather again…" Itachi placed his kunai at his side, keeping alert. He knew he had to, Pein had five of his summons around the place, and one was helping Kisame and Hidan. _This is for Konan and our child… _He thought as he walked around the compound to guard it. _Peace will be seen by the time our child is a young man and there will be little need for him to be a shinobi. I will still train him but he will not have to set his whole life to it._ Itachi thought. More than anything, he wanted peace but as he got older, he realized that without some sort of punishment device, there would not be any. No nation would easily give up their power, or leave others alone, it simply did not happen. _One of the damnable things about the human condition is our inability to keep peace. _Itachi thought as he looked upon the Rain Village amid one of their constant storms.

Pein walked up amid the heavy rain towards Itachi. Under Konan's advisement, he was to relieve Itachi after a shift. While Itachi's bout with near-fatal tuberculosis was nearly four months earlier, she was not about to let him get sick again. Pein grunted in frustration as he headed to relieve Itachi of his duty. As leader, he did not like putting himself out too much in case someone was looking for him or had convinced the villagers to revolt against Akatsuki. However, Konan did have a point that Itachi was one of the few people in the world who could teach the future Uchiha to use Sharingan on Akatsuki's side and with their numbers dwindling; they needed to keep the best agents safe. She had assured Pein that if got into a fight, he could hold off any opponent until Konan and Itachi got there to help him if he was in that much trouble, he had taken down Jiraiya after all.

"So, how was the shift?" Konan said as Itachi poured himself a cup of tea to warm himself up.

"Boring." Itachi replied. "But the fact it was boring was good I guess…" He sighed as he sat down and sipped the cup of tea. Taking a deep sip, he sighed with the warmth it brought his body when he felt a hand lay down on his. Opening his eyes, he saw Konan smiling back at him.

"Our baby kicked today." She smiled pulling herself a seat beside Itachi.

"Wow…" Itachi replied.

He was quite amazed by the magic of childbirth. He was one of the last people in the world anyone would expect to care about anyone let alone a child but the fact it was a life he and the woman he loved the most in the world. Part of him and part of Konan were being put into a new life they could teach to grow up to become a master shinobi. Itachi had never wantonly killed before. New life was always something he had loved. Since he found out about Sasuke before he was born, it was always something he loved hearing about, even if he never let on to be like that.

"I have a feeling it will be a boy." Konan said.

"How can you tell?" Itachi asked.

"You can call it womanly instinct I guess…" Konan giggled. "I mean I am the one who has to carry this kid around for nine months and then go through hours of agonizing labor before the child is even born, so I would say yes, I know this kid better now."

"I guess." Itachi sighed rolling his eyes. "However, I can see the child's chakra and your own remember?" He asked showing her his Sharingan. "Within a few months, I will be able to tell wither is a boy or a girl."

"What would you rather have?" Konan asked pouring herself a cup of tea.

"I'm sorry?" Itachi asked startled.

"A boy or a girl, what would you rather the child turn out to be?" Konan said. "If you had a choice?"

"Oh," Itachi said. "A daughter."

"Why?" Konan asked surprised. She always thought Itachi would want a son.

"I don't know why… I always admired my mother and well, I hoped I could have a daughter to influence more women like her in the world. She did only what was best for her family and never was afraid, I only saw her afraid once…" Itachi said, holding back the tears welling up in his eyes. He could never forget seeing his mother's face when he was dealing the final deathblow to her. _I am sorry Mother, it was beyond my control, please forgive me…_ He prayed in his mind, hoping that at least her soul was at rest.

Hoping to change the subject quickly before Itachi grew too sullen and suicidal by wanting to find Sasuke so he could kill him, Konan said, "Well, I hope it will be a boy…"

"Why dare I ask?" Itachi said.

"So he will turn out as caring as his father. You were wronged, but as long as our plans come together, you will never have to do things like you did ever again. Our child will be able to do what he wants and never have to worry about someone killing him." Konan said.

"I sure hope he will." Itachi smiled. "That's what I love about you Konan, you are so hopeful."

Konan smiled. "Well, it is all we have to hold onto. I hope for our child to be born safely, for the baby to happy and live in a world we control, full of peace. I hope we can give the child all we were denied in our lives."

Itachi reached across the table and kissed Konan on the lips. She was turning out to be the perfect mother, all he could have hoped for in a woman and more. His love for her was growing each day she grew bigger with their child. While he never intended to become a father, nor did Konan ever intend to become a mother, he was glad for a chance to make up for all of his wrong-doings in life by showing a new life exactly how to do things right. "Maybe we can do things right in life this time around." He said as he placed his hand on Konan's slight bump in her abdomen.

"Maybe." She said as she pulled Itachi close to her and kissed him on the lips, feeling a connection she had never quite felt before, as if the baby was strengthening how they felt about each other.

**Well how was that? Good? Bad? Sweet? Sappy? Let me know in a review. I do not know how you feel if you do not tell me so remember to read (well you just did) and review. Ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay, so you know the drill, I don't own Naruto okay? My computer had a virus so I couldn't write, but now I fixed it. So anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic.**

Tsunade sat alone in the council room awaiting judgment. No matter what she could have said, Danzo headed up the council and he wanted her out more than anything. He could not have prayed for a better set of events. Tsunade knew she was more than likely going to be deposed and ousted as Hokage, the village elders hated her. She also knew Danzo was going to use this to convince the elders and the Lord of the Land of Fire to make him Hokage. She needed a miracle to save her position as Hokage; not to mention finish treating Sakura in the hospital. _Thank goodness she wrote a report on the poison Sasori used and wrote out the antidote, it helped so much there._ Tsunade thought as she stared at the door.

Tsunade had bit her thumb to bleeding. The Akatsuki had captured Naruto and their latest intel told Konoha that he was now dead. She was now sitting in the council room await the judgment that would most certainly come against her if someone couldn't prove her theory that Danzo was using this as an opportunity to get back at her. _How am I to prove I did all that could be done? No, these old hags hate me because Danzo does and they listen to him…_ Tsunade thought. While she was alone deep in her thought, a knock was heard on the door.

"Come in." Tsunade said plainly with a note of resentment.

"Lady Tsunade, I have some valuable intel that can help your case!" Shizune said with an excited whisper; she did not want Danzo to know she had this piece of evidence. "The elders will have to believe you about Danzo now."

"What?" Tsunade asked amazed.

"Evidence, to prove you right!" Shizune said then went on. "I have reports Danzo purposely misled ANBU. Either he is using this to get at you or more likely and troubling, to open the door for Akatsuki and Orochimaru!" Shizune said pushing a scroll into Tsunade's pocket. She grabbed it and looked at Shizune.

"What is it?" Tsunade asked skeptically

"A recovered communication from Orochimaru. I don't know how old it is, but this proves Danzo was up to something with Orochimaru. Danzo is busy and the elders will try you first, so use this and you will be able to be redeemed. The elders may not entirely be fans of your methods but this will show them where their Danzo's loyalties really lie. The elders want to catch Orochimaru and get Sasuke back as much as you do. Good luck Lady Tsunade!" Shizune said as she ran out of the room shutting the door.

Knowing the counselors wouldn't be in for a while; she opened the scroll and read it. Tsunade's eyes opened wide in shock when she saw what was written on it. _Orochimaru-san, I agree with your plan and will do all I can to make it easier on you to get into Konoha. However, you must be willing to comply with my rule, but you will have the freedom for all of your experiments. I also have the intel on Uchiha Itachi you want. Think of it, I know so much about the Sharingan I can give you the information you always wanted._ This was perfect. Tsunade had the proof that Orochimaru and Danzo were conspiring and had intel on Akatsuki and their movement. The village elders could not ignore this; it was Danzo's handwriting that could be verified easily.

The door creaked open as the elders walked in. "Princess Tsunade!" Koharu said. "We need to speak with you."

"Ah!" Tsunade said with a smirk. "Homura and Koharu, I have to speak with you as well!"

"Why do you look so smug! You are in a very poor position to talk Princess Tsunade!" Homura yelled as placed his hands on the table in front of Tsunade.

"You are being played." Tsunade said plainly, trying to keep her rage under control. "Danzo had communications with Orochimaru, and he is plotting to bring down the leaf. Not so good is he now?"

Homura read the scroll with intense interest. It never crossed his mind that Danzo would want to contact with Orochimaru, especially how much he spoke out against Orochimaru and the Akatsuki at the last council meeting. Something did not seem to sit well with him either. Where did Tsunade get this message? He had known Tsunade and Danzo had their differences and were at odds for quite some time. The timing of receiving this was suspicious. Yet the possibility was not all the outstanding. When Suna's jinuuriki was capture, there was an informant for the Akatsuki that was close to the Kazekage. If nothing else, using this in trial was going to lead to justice for whoever was right and help to bring down Akatsuki.

"This scroll is intriguing." Homura said. Koharu then took the scroll and began to read it for herself.

"I would never have thought Danzo would be capable of doing something like this. We must take this to trial!" She yelled.

Tsunade groaned quietly. Action needed to be taken but she would take the fact the counselors and her were on the same page for once. The fact that Danzo may be punished comforted Tsunade a little, she still had the hospital and Sakura to look after and a more menacing threat of the Akatsuki had breached the village's defenses and now had possession of the Kyuubi. Bringing Danzo to justice would only partially help their situation. What mattered more was that they bring the Akatsuki down. _We will need Ibiki to interrogate Danzo; he is the best we have._ Tsunade thought as she bit her finger again. They had to figure out what to do about the problems that were piling up from this major breech of village security.

"We need to have Ibiki and the interrogation squad all focus on Danzo." Tsunade said finally. "Then we need to go on the offensive against Akatsuki. We have Suna's pledged support and if we start to show progress against them the other Great Shinobi nations may join us."

Koharu paused. "This plan is a good one, but this note, it looks like it was written a few months ago. Which means the Orochimaru threat is diminished."

"What?" Tsunade exclaimed. "Who killed him? Why was I not informed!"

Ignoring her second question, Homura answered her. "Intel was Sasuke Uchiha killed him."

"Wow." Tsunade said. "I need to return to Sakura in the hospital. I will need to talk to you again when I am finished there. Good-bye."

_(Page break to Team Hebi)_

Meanwhile, Sasuke was sitting on a chair in his base with his feet propped up while Karin was sitting beside him, looking upon the avenger longingly. _I am going to help him with ALL of his goals. He cannot restore the Uchiha clan all by himself…_ Karin thought as she rubbed Sasuke's cheek with her hand smiling up at him. Sasuke gave Karin an innocent kiss on her forehead as he turned to look out the window. As heartless and leaving Konoha was, the fact Akatsuki had possession of Naruto's demon made him want to ally back with Konoha if they would have him. He knew he could use that alliance to help Konoha get to Akatsuki and when his team got to Akatsuki, Sasuke would be that much closer to Itachi. Karin looked upon Sasuke's pensive face and also began working on her own plans against Konan. She knew that Itachi had caused Sasuke pain by killing everyone he loved; she believed she would do the same to Itachi. Konan was close to Itachi and before Sasuke killed him, Karin wanted him to feel the pain that Sasuke felt. To do that, Karin felt that it was her sworn duty to kill Konan. _What if there is a child in this unholy Itachi and Konan relationship? Do I have the guts to kill that child to ruin Itachi? Would that heartless bastard even care? I had better ask Sasuke _Karin thought as she looked up at Sasuke.

"Sasuke?" Karin asked looking up at him.

"Yes my dear Karin?" Sasuke asked looking into her eyes.

"How do you feel about restoring the Uchiha clan?" Karin asked, beating around the bush about what she wanted to talk about.

"Passionate." Sasuke said. "Are you amorous or something?"

"No, but would you kill a child of Itachi's to get to him?" Karin said.

Sasuke paused. "If Konan has a child with Itachi, it may complicate things. The child may not know any better about its parents. However, if we kill the child's parents, he may come to resent us…"

He thought a little more on that possibility. Karin did have a point. While he did not like to think of his brother doing things that could produce children, Sasuke knew that his revenge may take years to complete. It wasn't entirely unfeasible that a child could complicate his revenge. The desire for revenge was instilled in him at the young age of eight. Sasuke knew that if the child found out what happened, he would want revenge on him. No need to have an innocent Uchiha be corrupted by the Akatsuki.

"If there is a child between those two," Sasuke shuddered. "We would need to capture it before we went on the offensive against Itachi. Knowing the Akatsuki ilk, they won't come to defend the child."

"What if they do? We can use that as a trap, as long as the child doesn't know what is going on. A child should be young enough we can convince it to see us as its parents." Karin suggested with a smile.

"You are right Karin. If there is a hypothetical child, we can raise it as our own. I cannot stand to see any innocent Uchiha in suffering."

"I love you Sasuke." Karin said looking into his eyes jumping onto his lap. Karin wrapped her hands around him and slipping her tongue into his mouth.

"I love you too Karin…" Sasuke whispered into her ear.

_(Page break back to Konoha Hospital)_

Back in Konoha Hospital, Sakura was lying in bed asleep. It was thanks to Kakashi's being in the right place at the right time that she was able to get the help she needed. She began to stir with an exhausted moan. She could not remember how she had gotten there; her last memory was when she was fighting Konan and the Akatsuki so they wouldn't capture Naruto. She looked around to see Yamato, Sai, Kakashi, and Ino looking upon her. She was weakened severely from the fight.

"You're awake. That's good." Kakashi said.

"Where am I?" Sakura asked looking around.

"Why you are in the hospital." Yamato said. "You were poisoned badly in your fight with the Akatsuki. Good thing Kakashi-sensei was there nearby after they fled."

"Why didn't you go after them? They have Naruto!" Sakura said.

"Because I could tell you were hit with a potent poison. Yamato has sent some of his wood clones after them, but Lady Tsunade wants to focus on village security. It is too late for Naruto." Kakashi said.

"NARTUO!" Sakura yelled trying to get up, but Kakashi pushed her back down.

"You need to rest." Kakashi insisted. "You had a worse poison in you than when Sasori attacked Kankuro."

"Yeah Billboard Brow, I have to admire you for standing up against the Akatsuki. Shame it was too late…" Ino said tearing up. While she did find Naruto annoying, he did mean a lot to her. "I brought you some cherry blossoms to help you feel better."

"Thanks Ino pig." Sakura said getting back for the Billboard Brow comment.

"The situation is very serious now." Sai said, bringing down the mood. "The Akatsuki have Naruto and the Kyuubi, for they most likely have extracted his demon."

Ino nodded. She had stopped by before she was going to head off to the Intelligence department. Normally someone of her age would have not been called up for intel duty, but the situation called for all available Yamanakas and Naras to help out with the information gathering. Tsunade did not want to go off half-cocked in the offensive against Akatsuki. "I know it is." Ino said. "The Yamanaka and Nara clans are being called up to help gather information against Akatsuki."

"Is Naruto okay?" Sakura said, the medication kicking in.

"No Sakura." Yamato said placing a sympatric hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry to say that he is more than likely dead. It's been over five days now, and I doubt they would waste any time in extracting the demon."

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Sakura yelled as she rose up from the bead in extreme pain, her passion an anguish powering her. She had so much she had wanted to tell him, but now she never could. Tears began to swell up in her eyes as Tsunade opened the door. "Mi Lady!" Sakura said.

Tsunade walked over and read Sakura's vitals. "Thank goodness I am good with poisons and antidotes. This one was powerful. If you still didn't have a tiny bit of your antidote against Sasori in your system, you never would have made it. You need to calm down before you cause undo strain on your body." Tsunade said administering a sedative to Sakura.

"I should have known better than getting overexcited." Sakura cried. "I am sorry mi lady."

"That's okay." Tsunade said. "I have been there."

Tsunade sighed as she was in a state of distress. She had just convinced the elders to go with her ideas and proposals. Now they were investigating Danzo, she looked up and saw Sai by Sakura's side and was worried. She never knew where his loyalties lie and with Danzo under investigation, he could easily be used by him. _As Naruto is dead, and Sakura in the hospital, I can have team 7 here in Konoha due to the risk of emotional distress. I will send Yamato to spy on the Akatsuki however._ Tsunade thought as she looked upon Sakura. The sedatives were kicking in and Tsunade knew she could ask Sakura who was in the Akatsuki that captured Naruto.

"Okay, please calm down and answer me honestly." Tsunade said. "Do you know who it was that captured Naruto in the Akatsuki?"

Sakura looked up as if to remember. "A woman called Konan was the one who poisoned me, claiming she knew much more about poisons than even Sasori,"

"Okay." Tsunade said nodding. "Do you remember who it was who captured Naruto?"

"Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi." Sakura said.

"Thank you Sakura, we can take this attack better." Tsunade said.

Tsunade then stormed off and headed to her office. She knew who the main targets were now. Kisame, Konan and Itachi were now bumped to the top of Konoha's bingo book and were ordered to be killed on sight. _So Uchiha, your true colors are revealed. I wonder what your next move will be. You want war on Konoha, you and your Akatsuki scum got it. _Tsunade thought as she pulled out a bottle of sake from under her desk and took a drink.

**Well how was that? I know there was no real ItaKon action on this chapter but this is not a mushy love story. Sorry I broke my promise AGAIN but computer troubles are computer troubles. I may be able to do better now, but that is a hope. So yeah, remember to read, (Well you just did) and review. Ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm**

_PS Check out my story Monster You Made about Itachi until I can update this. I have no reviews on it! Go there, read and review now!_


	16. Chapter 16

**I do not own Naruto okay? I am so sorry this took so long to come up with but I swear I will finish this story. I hardly ever read ItaKona fics where they have a family, so I am going to finish this so it will be on the internet's collection of said fanfics. So I hope you enjoy this chapter, I worked really hard on it. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

Konan patrolled the perimeter on her watch. Both Pein and Itachi had wanted her to take it easy and reduce the amount of duty she was preforming. She was about seven months along now and she showed her delicate condition, even though she didn't want to let others know about it. However it was getting harder for her to hide the pregnancy from everybody. Even when she wore her cloak, which she did more often, most people could tell that she was pregnant. Knowing this, Pein and the rest of the Akatsuki had to bring in The Rain Village's top ninjas to help guard the village and Akatsuki's hideout. Despite this, Konan insisted that she would be an active part of Akatsuki until the child was born. Rumors were abounding that Konoha and Suna had an alliance they had started to try and fight the Akatsuki. Their progress was being hindered by the objections of the other Kages and Villages. Many were too afraid to do much of anything to be of any real help. Without that support, there was no way Konoha or Suna could attack the Akatsuki

Itachi then walked up to Konan and kissed her on the cheek. "Your shift is over. Pein-sama wants you back at headquarters."

"Okay. Be safe." Konan said.

"You know I will," Itachi said. "Now go back to the headquarters."

"Okay, I will." Konan said waving back to Itachi who was walking back to the border to begin his patrol. While she was determined to help Akatsuki, she knew her pregnancy was making it harder to each day. Pein was determined that the child she was carrying should live. It was Uchiha Itachi's child after all. This child was going to be born with the Sharingan and would have the skills and intelligence that Akatsuki needed so desperately. If all that was left of the members were Tobi, Hidan and Kisame and the leaders Pein, Konan and Itachi were the smart ones, and then the Akatsuki were in little position to run anything. They kept ahold of Ame, the Rain Village, by the old image they had when they were first collecting the Tailed beasts. However, if that illusion was to spread to the other nations, then they needed a powerful force to back it up even more. All this planning with the child was not going to come to pass for years, decades even. Pein always said that for them to rule and end war forever; they needed to plan for decades ahead.

"Anything new?" Pein asked as Konan went inside the headquarters.

"No." Konan said. "The villagers told me of rumors of an attack plan by Konoha and Suna."

"Really? They plan to attack us? We killed many of their prominent villagers who opposed us." Pein said.

"I know." Konan said. "However Suna is reluctant after they nearly lost two members of their ruling clan in our last confrontation with them. We may have lost Sasori to them. They lost Chiyo however, an important village elder. That makes Suna's possible action pretty much invalid. Konoha will be on their own."

"So we have little to worry about so far." Pein said. "Off topic, how is the baby doing?"

"Oh," Konan said taken aback that Pein was showing what seemed to be genuine interest in the child. "It's fine. Itachi says it's getting to the point where he can officially determine the child's gender. He says it looks like a boy but it is not until seven months along that he can use the Sharingan to see the chakra movement."

"That's good." Pein said. "Should be a good looking baby."

"I hope he looks like Itachi." Konan said looking at her bump.

"Well, he would be handsome even if he takes after his mother." Pein said. "Go take a well-deserved rest."

"Let me know when Itachi comes back." Konan said as she headed to her and Itachi's bedroom.

"I will." Pein said.

"Thank you Pein-sama." Konan said.

Meanwhile Sasuke, Karin, Jugo and Suigetsu were heading out of their fortress they hid out in as part of Team Hebi. Sasuke had felt like it was time for his team to head out and make more of an active role searching for Itachi. Partially this was because deep down, in a level he would not admit even to himself, he cared about Naruto. Naruto was the only person he really could connect with. However, him being an Uchiha, he had a certain face he had to present to Konoha and could not let Naruto in. When he heard and confirmed, in ways that he could without Konoha lording over him, that Naruto was dead and the demon extracted, he knew he needed to avenge Naruto as well as the rest of his clan. He had intensified his training since he heard about that. After seeing Jugo, Suigetsu and Karin's skills improve as well and how far they had come with their progress, he knew it was time to head out and take the battle to Itachi. The plan was to follow the last known path that Itachi was known to be at and see what the locals knew and could or would be willing to tell them. Anyone would know Itachi Uchiha when they saw him; it was telling he had been there that many locals were not willing to do. Sasuke was also planning on using his former Konoha connections to get him closer to Itachi so he could get his revenge. Looking at the foliage of the area, Sasuke could tell they were getting close to the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers.

"Konoha is not too far away." Sasuke said. "A few days walk and we should be there."

"But Sasuke," Suigetsu said sitting on a rock, cleaning his sword. "You are the only one of us from there dude."

"Yes, and I did not leave on the most pleasant of circumstances. However, I think I can take advantage of the state of the village now." Sasuke explained. "It has been a few months since Naruto was captured and killed and from what intel I have gotten, Konoha is desperate for any help they can get. That is what we will offer them. We may only be a team of four, but with our skills, they would be fool to refuse the use." He said flashing his Sharingan.

"Us?" Karin asked. "Would they think anything of us offering help? Based on our past we wouldn't be much appreciated there. They have valid reason to suspect ill will of us."

Sasuke looked up, thinking about the situation. None of his team had permission to enter Konoha. Karin, Jugo and Suigetsu would be seen as invaders. They could be put to death or be captured as prisoners of war and interrogated. _Maybe that is what they need to be, interrogated. I know it is rough on them but they would show that they can be at least the enemy of the enemy to Konoha. They are fighting a losing battle. _Sasuke thought. Sasuke knew that his team would not hurt or attack the village if he ordered them not to and he knew that he was going to have to swear that they would not plot against Konoha. Just saying that however, would not be enough for people like Ibiki, the head of interrogation and torture in ANBU in Konoha. Ibiki was likely to interrogate each member of Team Hebi separately anyway. Sasuke knew he was going to get the toughest interrogation to prove he had not sold out the village but the rest of his team was going to be interrogated hard as well. _Best get them ready for the bad news._ Sasuke thought. "You do realize that Konoha's interrogation force will want to question each of us separately and they are not going to be easy. No matter how desperate they may get, they are not going to let just anyone in."

"I expected something like that." Jugo said as he popped a food pill. "You are right, no matter how desperate they may get, they are not going to let just anyone in and we are some of the last people they would let in on a good day."

"Yes that is the case." Suigetsu said. "Won't they be harder on us for being from the Sound Village and worked and served Orochimaru?"

"Quite possibly." Sasuke said. "So we have to show them that we have true loyalties to the village. Play up the experiment victim card if you can. That may win you some sympathy. They may be harder on me than you guys."

"Because of the fact you abandoned them?" Karin said. Karin was sort of glad that Sasuke abandoned the village. It was like they were destined to meet. Her love for him, ever since the Chunin exams, grew and grew each day. She was now his second in command with a special protection he swore only to her and now they were heading back to the place that brought them together.

"Exactly." Sasuke said.

The sun was starting to set. It was at this time that Karin suggested they make camp for the night. No one was following them and the forest of the Land of Fire was not being patrolled like Sasuke thought that it was going to be after an attack by the Akatsuki and the capture of the Nine Tailed Beast. That could only mean that the village was in complete and total utter chaos or there were more important places in the village that they needed the forces. Either way Sasuke knew that he could use this opportunity to his advantage. This just reinforced the idea he had that if he could prove that he was still loyal and did not reveal any secrets to other villages that they would want his help. He had killed Orochimaru and gathered intel that could be of real use to them anyway. There would be little reason why he would not be taken back. He was an Uchiha after all and the Sharingan was a weapon often associated with Konoha, even if it was a trait of the Uchiha clan. He would then tell them of his new team and how they would be valuable assets to Konoha and have them go through the interrogation process to prove where they were willing to lay their loyalties and then use Konoha for all they were worth in his plan to kill Itachi. Home village meant little to him; all he was after was revenge.

Tsunade took a deep drink of sake. She had the elders have Danzo arrested and imprisoned for attempted treason and espionage. He was under daily interrogation but for some reason unknown to everyone involved, Ibiki could not get any new information about Danzo's plans to sell Konoha to Orochimaru than they already knew. Something weird was going on and it was straining Tsunade. The elders only imprisoned Danzo on the belief that they would get the information he would have about the whereabouts of Orochimaru. As a former Akatsuki himself, Orochimaru was one step closer to the criminal gang who had captured their jinuuriki. Garra had kept regular correspondence with Tsunade but it was little help for her. While he was good at consoling her about the loss of Naruto, the situation was different and they could pull little for the experience. Besides, there was no one who knew the technique to bring people back to life like there was for him. Chiyo was dead, the only person who knew the secret. She had managed to seal off the intelligence Konoha had so that she was the only one who could access it, and any request for the littlest bit of secret intel and knowledge the village had would have to go through her.

However, the situation at the hospital with Sakura was a strange and tough one for one of even her skills to beat. The poison was stronger than the one Sasori had used on Kankuro that Sakura had been able to treat. All they could do was use Sakura's antidote to draw out and weaken as much of it as they could. Sakura was healing physically pretty well. She could get up, walk around, eat, and even train with weapons like she could before she was poisoned. However, she could not perform ninjutsu, genjutsu, or her healing arts like she could before. Sakura was a chunin now but she was performing in those sections like a genin or even a ninja academy student. Apparently the poison had a fail-safe built in somehow to keep the victim from ever getting back to the state they were before they were attacked by it. It kept attacking a person's chakra network so that it could never function well again. Even the top scientists and medics could not figure out what was going on.

"Lady Tsunade?" Shizune said as she opened the door.

"What is it?" Tsunade said looking up at Shizune, the frustration showing in her voice. Her face showed lines where she did not sleep and the stress was keeping her from being able to look young as she always did before.

"We just got this correspondence today. It was sent by a hawk. Only thing is, our decoders don't know if this is to be believed or it is a hoax." Shizune said handing Tsunade the message.

"Let me read it." Tsunade said. "'Your honorable Godiame Hokage Tsunade, this is Uchiha Sasuke. I know of your loss of Uzumaki Naruto. I also know that a kunochi named Haruno Sakura was injured in the attack. Do not ask where I found this out, an attack by Akatsuki never goes in silence. No village even one as powerful as Konoha can keep something like that a secret. I have recently killed the S-ranked criminal known as Orochimaru who cursed me to be his slave. With his death, I and my team of three other nin are free to do as we see fit. After the attack we all decided to offer our services to Konoha to help you rage a proper war on Akatsuki. My other teammates have skills that would be of great use to you that no other nin in Konoha has. Do you have a candidate to be one of the Hidden Mist's Seven Swordsmen? Do you have a chakra sensor? I do not think so. I do and they will swear their loyalty to you and follow your orders. I will be at the gates in three days. I await your response.'" Tsunade put the letter down.

"What do you think?" Shizune asked.

"Seems legit. Keep our best Jonin at the gates to guard and wait for them. Once they arrive, summon Ibiki and Inochi. We need to make sure they are honest. If they are, they will serve us." Tsunade said as she took another drink of sake.

"Yes mi lady!" Shizune said as she walked out of the Hokage's office.

**Wow, longer than I thought that would be. Anyway, how was that? Good? Bad? Boring? A Cliffhanger in a way? Let me know in a review. I know this took a while to come up with and once again I am sorry. So remember to read, (well you just did) and to review. Anyway, ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm**

**PS: Please check out my other fics like ****Taboo****,**** Minutes to Midnight ****if you are a fan of Invader Zim or maybe my new Hunger Games and Gravity falls fanfics. I have an idea to cross the two, Hunger Games and Gravity Falls, but I want to know if anyone would be interested. But hey check out my other fics. Forgive my shameless self-promotion and just enjoy the story you read at least. Bye! **


	17. Chapter 17

**Ah, see the previous other 16 chapters if you want a disclaimer, because by chapter 17, you shouldn't need it. I am so sorry it keeps taking me so long to update, but I will finish this. I am really dedicated to this, and I am getting to the good part. So I know you want to read more of the fic, not my rambling, so enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

"So, we are going to be leaf ninja now?" Karin asked as they walked towards the village gates.

"Not really." Sasuke said. "We are like mercenaries in a way. We are really helping them to fight the Akatsuki. We have the same enemy, so it is more of a whole alliance going with the whole, 'enemy of my enemy' type of ideology We are using them to meet our ends."

"Ah." Karin said. "So we are our own agents, no real loyalties to them."

"Yes," Sasuke said. "They may not have full trust of us, nor should we have full trust in them. We are considered rouge nin by them. They may double-cross us."

"That's fine with me," Suigetsu said with a devilish smile across his face "We can take them."

Sasuke just nodded, knowing Suigetsu was full of nothing but false bravado. Coming face to face with all of Konoha would wipe that smug look off his face. They jumped from tree to tree before they landed on the path to the gates of Konoha. Sasuke knew some of the Interrogation Squad would be there. However, it had been more than 3 years since he was last in Konoha and he did not know if some of his former classmates who had family in the Interrogation Squad like Shikamaru and Ino did would have joined as well. What was going to be hard was facing down some of his former classmates after he pulled that stunt of leaving the village Karin, Juugo and Suigetsu didn't have to worry about that problem; they just had to make it through the interrogation _This is just a step to my revenge_ Sasuke thought I_ just hope that Chouji, Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba or Lee don't see me… I doubt they would be too happy to see me. They may even blame me in some way for Naruto's death._ He looked over at Karin, then Suigetsu and Juugo respectively. Sasuke nodded to each of them and reaffirmed his decision to ally with Konoha.

"Halt right there!" Shikaku Nara said, casting the shadow possession jutsu on them.

"What?" Karin said noticing that she couldn't move. "How come I can't move? And how come I couldn't notice you two there?"

"Because you are to be interrogated. We knew one of you was a chakra sensor too, so we suppressed our chakra so that you could not detect us. No need to have the people we are trying to ally with, even in spite of their past sneak into the village." Inochi Yamanaka said looking at them all. "I see you are the chakra sensor." He said looking at Karin. "Lady Tsunade will only accept your offer of alliance after we interrogate you. The village security has already been breached once recently, we had to step up security. You should understand."

"Is this to just us, or anyone who comes into the village?" Juugo asked.

"Everyone." Shikaku said. "We did this to Lady Temari and the Kazekage himself No one is to be trusted anymore. So if we interrogated them, high officials in the ally village of Sunakagure, what makes us think you four rouge nin would get in with anything else?"

Sasuke didn't like the idea of being treated as an enemy by his birth village, but in the non-biased part of his mind that he devoted completely to the planning of his revenge he knew that there was no other way that he could use to get to Itachi, so he knew he was going to have to put up with being interrogated _It couldn't be much worse than being Orochimaru's pet and poison guniea pig.' _ Sasuke thought remembering all the times he had to fight through Orochimaru's so called "training" while developing a resistance to all the types of poisons that various ninja could use against him, specifically the ones that Orochimaru's old Akatsuki partner Sasori was known to have used. Orochimaru said he had stolen some of Sasori's poisons to crack them and use them to his advantage. After that, every now and then he would have a sudden attack of a serious illness from the remnants of the poison in his system that would even slow down his chakra, but Sasuke knew it was all for the completion of his goal. It meant more to him than life itself. His life was destroyed and he was going to balance it back so that he could start over and be the new patriarch of a new Uchiha clan that would be stronger than ever. Restoring his clan was going to be the easy part with Karin by his side. She practically worshipped him and was more than eager to be the matriarch of a new line of Uchihas. Yet as long as Itachi was alive, that part of his goal and dream that involved restoring his clan would not be able to happen. Sasuke knew that he could not take care of a child and teach them to be strong ninja when Itachi was alive and he had to be the one focused on killing him.

"Shikaku use your Shadow Possion rope and bring these four into the interrogation chambers." Inochi said. "We will interrogate each of you separately and once you pass our inspection, Lady Tsunade will meet with you and say if she approves or disapproves of your help. If we say you are trustworthy, she will most likely use you. We need all the help we can get after the attack Akatsuki placed on our village."

"Can you tell us more about it?" Sasuke asked. "Is it information that general public is allowed to know?"

"Well I am sure you know at least the basics, as things like that cannot be kept to one's self in this world." Shikaku said. "This is what Lady Tsunade has given out to the general public, so I don't know if you heard it yet or not."

"Only about Naruto's death I have heard." Sasuke said. "That is all my teammates know too."

"Okay, You know all the details of that?" Inochi said.

"Only that Akatsuki and mainly Itachi, Konan and Hidan were the ones who captured him." Sasuke said.

"Well, if he is dead and Akatsuki had captured him, then you know they extracted his demon." Shikaku said. "You are smart, you know about that already. A search for the last demon is being conducted by both Akatsuki and the Kage Alliance to secure the Eight-tailed Jinchuuriki before he is captured and the weapon the Akatsuki is trying to make is completed. This information about Akatsuki we got from a captured Ame chunin we had. He told us everything just before he killed himself. I am sorry to say that Akatsuki has a head start. They know where the Jinchuuriki is and have sent agents to try and capture him long before the Kage Alliance had sent anything to try and counter them. The fate of the Eight Tailed Jinchuuriki is unknown at this moment."

Meanwhile back in the Rain Village, Pein was keeping watch when Kisame and Hidan were approaching over the horizon with the unconscious form of the Eight Tailed Jinchuuriki in their hands. Pein cracked a rare smiled, regained his composure and then summoned the rest of the Akatsuki. "I call a summons at the meeting hall. We are going to need to perform the Extraction Justus again. Kisame and Hidan have returned with the Eight Tails in their possession. When we extract this demon from the Jinchuuriki, we will have all nine we need. Then our weapon will be complete."

Itachi looked up and knew that this was going to be rough on Konan. He had no doubts in his mind that she could handle it, but he did wonder if the strain was going to cause undue damage to the unborn baby. She had been coping quite well under the conditions and stress she was under, now that they were pretty much at war with Konoha and Suna. The rest of the ninja nations declared a state of neutrality as they wanted nothing to do with Akatsuki either way, and were secretly glad that they had captured their Jinchuurikis. _ War is terrible. The only thing that can match war and end it is a weapon so terrible that no one will want it to be used ever._ Itachi thought. Parts of him were still feeling guilty about having to join Akatsuki in the first place, having to kill his clan and all of the bad things he had done, but it was with each day that he told himself that all this fighting and killing was for the greater good. The greater good was all he had cared about and now more than ever with his own child only a few weeks from being born, was the goal of ending war and creating a total and global peace forth most in his mind. He did not want the child to have to do and see the things that he had in his life. Itachi had remembered when they extracted the demon from Naruto and seeing his body lay there dead and useless and the guilt he felt at having to kill Naruto, a kid he saw playing with Sasuke so many times before when they were babies. Burying his guilt and remorse in himself, he turned to Konan and tended to her needs. "The old needs to make a better world for the new." Itachi said as he turned to Konan and noticed she was getting up and heading to the meeting hall.

"Yes it does Itachi-kun." Konan said as she headed to him, taking his hand. "I heard Pein-sama's message too. The weapon will be completed soon and we will have nothing to worry about for our child."

"Hold on a moment Konan-chan." Itachi said activating his Sharingan. "I want to do this before we finish the weapon. I have been meaning to do this for the longest time, but lately have not had the chance to."

"What are you doing?" Konan asked as Itachi stared intently at her baby bump.

"Remember when we were talking about whether we wanted a son or a daughter?" Itachi said.

"Yes." Konan nodded.

"Well the child is now old enough for me to use my Sharingan to see if it will be a son or a daughter." Itachi said as he looked at Konan's womb and watched her charka pattern to establish that it was hers, then he looked at the pattern in her womb and saw it moving harsher than Konan's was, it was moving more like his own was. He kept his eye on it just to be sure. Itachi then nodded and smiled. "Well Konan-chan, you are going to have two important men in your life."

"What?" Konan asked. "You mean I am expecting a-"

"Son yes, we are having a boy." Itachi said. "I do hope you won't consider the name Sasuke out of the realm of possibility or a bad name."

"I won't." Konan said as she opened the door. "Now we have to get the demon out of that Jinchuuriki so that little Sasuke will have a world better than the one we grew up in to grow up in. I wouldn't wish either of our lives on my worst enemy." _I hope that that damn Madara keeps his hands off my child._ Konan thought as Itachi headed down to the meeting hall, ready to perform the Sealing Jutsu that would finish their weapon and secure their power over all of the world. People need control or they would war like animals all over the world, killing the innocent.

Back in Konoha, Sasuke was sitting on a stiff wooden chair in a dank white room with only one light bulb hanging uncovered over his head. _All part of my plan. I need to get through this. This is nothing. Tsunade will be fair. I told Shikaku what he knew and Inochi had confirmed that. I hated feeling his presence in my brain. I mean there were things that no one was supposed to know, but they must have found something good to tell her, because they are sending her to check out what I know…_ Sasuke thought as he stared at the only contrasting thing in the room and that was the door knob. It turned to the left and Sasuke knew that Tsunade was heading into the room.

"Okay, what was it Orochimaru did to you that you wouldn't let Inochi see in your mind?" Tsunade said.

"Poison me…" Sasuke said, still covering up the real reason he hid his darkest secret in his mind.

"Oh you showed him that no problem." Tsunade said.

"Fine!" Sasuke said knowing that she was not going to drop the subject. "He violated me as a part of training!"

"Knew it." Tsunade said. "Oh I could tell by your expression that it was something of that nature. Don't feel bad; by coming to us, you have protection. Your teammates are going to be granted asylum under the provision they do not rebel against Konoha. But I can trust that they are as smart as you are when it comes to not biting the hands that feed them. You see Konoha knows about the horrible things Orochimaru did to his students. We knew from the corpses of the Sound Village 4 and Kimimaru when we sent our own nin to try and get you to come back to Konoha." Sasuke looked at his feet. "I knew you would eventually one way or another."

"What of Sakura Haruno?" Sasuke said trying to cover up his guilt. "I know Naruto's dead, but she has to be alive?" If there was one person that would not treat him bad when he came back, he knew it would be her. She tried all she could to stop him from leaving in the first place.

"She has been poisoned by one of Akatsuki's poisons that topped what Sasori of the Red Sand himself could make." Tsunade said. "This brings me to why I wanted to come here sooner than I wanted to."

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"Your blood. It may contain something that can help reverse the effects." Sasuke began to speak but Tsunade interrupted him again. "You have antibodies that can break the effects that the poison Konan had put in Sakura makes it impossible to use her charka. Now she is about as Lee is when it comes to chakra. We can use the blood to take the antibodies you have and make it so she can be a valuable asset to the village again. This is the condition I will have to your return. We are at war with Akatsuki, like you are and if you don't help us create an antidote for that poison, we won't help you. Deal?" Tsunade said.

Sasuke paused for a moment. He could see little he could do against it, and Sakura was a skilled medic nin now so she would be of great use to him once she was healed, so he nodded. "Deal" Sasuke said.

Tsunade pulled out a piece of cloth and a needle and a vial. "I kept this just in case." She said as Sasuke rolled his sleeve up and she stuck the needle in a vein and extracted the blood. "Thanks to you many will be saved in this war. If we can take Akatsuki's weapons, we take their power."

"Yes we will." Sasuke said as Tsunade left the room.

**So how was that? Good? Bad? Surprising? Let me know in a review. So you see that Itachi and Konan are having a son and Sasuke and Hebi are allies with Konoha and on the way to correcting the effects Konan's poison had on Sakura. I am sorry it took so long, but I love this story and will finish it. So remember to read, well you just did, and to review. Ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Ah, if you don't know by chapter 18 of this story that I don't own Naruto, then you have problems. I am not Kishimoto here! Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

Sasuke looked out the door after Tsunade had left the room with the sample of his blood that she planned to use to try and make an antidote for Sakura. He listened in on what was being said throughout the hallways to see if Konoha was going too harsh on the rest of his Hebi teammates. He knew he had coached them well on what to say to the Interrogation Squad. It was Suigetsu and Juugo that were the ones that he was most worried about crossing the Interrogation Squad. Sasuke knew that Karin had talents that Konoha could easily take advantage of. They would go easy on her and she would tell them just what Sasuke wanted them to know. Sasuke knew that at least he and Karin would have it easier adjusting into life with the rest of Konoha's military force. Sasuke had the Sharingan that Konoha knew well how it worked and how to use it in their upcoming battles with the Akatsuki. Karin was a chakra sensor and had a special ability to heal others with a bite to one of the many circles on her body. Even the most genin of ninja would know that those two traits were desirable to have when fighting an enemy like they were going to have to face. Those were skills that were going to be used a lot.

"Karin?" Sasuke said along the hallways. He had heard no screams, so he knew that whatever techniques Inochi and Ibiki were using weren't too harsh no violent. It had appeared that so far the rest of Team Hebi were following Sasuke's orders and going along with the Interrogation peacefully.

"I'm here Sasuke-kun," Karin said. She walked towards Sasuke with a plate of fried pork skewers with fried rice and tempura in her hands.

"Where'd you get that?! They didn't give me anything!" Sasuke said looking at the plate.

"I had that Ibiki guy get it for me before I showed them my skills." Karin said nonchalantly as she popped some of the rice in her mouth

"Why did you do that!?" Sasuke said in frustration. "I told you to be easy on them!"

"I was hungry." Karin whined. "And besides, I show off my chakra sensing skills better on a full stomach. I used the chance to show Ibiki when he brought in the rice and pork for me. Can't say it startled him that I knew he was coming, but the detail I gave about everything he did showed him full well what I could do." Karin added shoving a piece of tempura into Sasuke's mouth. "What did Tsunade do with that syringe to you? No weird mind control stuff?"

"No, none of that." Sasuke said. "You know how Orochimaru kept poisoning me to protect me from it? To help me develop immunity to most all poisons?"

"Yeah." Karin said. "I remember there being many a night where I had to heal you to get you to tolerate the poison better."

"Well Haruno Sakura was poisoned badly and still hasn't healed fully and Tsunade thinks the key to being able to heal her back to full heath would be in my blood as Orochimaru used many similar poisons on me that are a lot alike the one that was used on her." Sasuke explained. He then looked at Karin's long sleeved purple shirt and then thinking of the healing circles that the shirt was hiding under the sleeves and formulated an idea. "I think she should know more about your healing circles."

"Who?" Karin asked.

"Tsunade and Sakura." Sasuke said. "I mean they both are poison experts and they may have some use for something like your chakra circles to cure Sakura."

Karin felt a sprang of jealousy pop up inside her. Sasuke wanted to her to help heal Sakura?! Did he still feel something for her? Karin was closer to him that Sakura ever was. During his darkest times in Orochimaru's liar, she was the one who cured him and healed him when he was the most broken from seeking his revenge against Itachi. She had spent so much time with him, both intimately and when it came to the training for his ultimate desires. She was not about to let herself be replaced by some pink haired medic ninja that didn't know enough about poisons or her opponent that all she could do now is be a pharmacist because her chakra network was destroyed. Karin was much more dedicated to Sasuke's mission than Sakura was in her mind. Sasuke had told Karin about Sakura trying to convince him to stay in Konoha and even in a feeble desperation offered to join him. _At least he refused her. She wouldn't have been of any use to him anyway. At best now she is, or was, a medical nin. I can top her in those skills with no problem. He didn't feel she was of much use to him back then,_ Karin thought to herself._ She seems like too much of a goody-goody anyway. She might not have the guts to do what is going to need to be done in this upcoming war against the Akatsuki._ Karin reassured herself. She then looked up at Sasuke and asked, "You know where this Sakura girl is now?"

"Tsunade said she could be found at the pharmacy. It has been the only real use to the hospital she has been since she was poisoned." Sasuke said.

"Can we see her?" Karin asked, suppressing her inner jealousy of Sakura. "I am going to have to meet our future allies and I have a feeling she will want to be on our team and Tsunade will put her with us." She added with a groan at the thought of Sakura with her and Sasuke.

"I will have to ask Tsunade first. This is bound to be a tense meeting just with me. I don't know how she would take seeing you with me. I mean she was creepily obsessed over me when we were younger. I don't know what she would do. With Naruto dead, she may desperately try to cling to me and lash out at you. Teamwork is important but I think with teammates who would be at each other's necks isn't good." Sasuke said. He then looked over his shoulder and head footsteps heading to the room Karin was in for Interrogation. "And you should head back to the room you were in for Interrogation! You don't need to give Ibiki a reason to mind fuck you!"

"Yeah. He did do enough of that at the chunin exams…" Karin sighed as she headed back down the hall to her room.

"That was rough…" Sasuke said.

She had been in the same chunin exam class as Sasuke when he first took the exam. He went on to the Forest of Death part of the exam like she did. However Sasuke went on to the final rounds while her team had failed; they had their scroll taken from them. It was there she had first laid eyes on him and fell in love with him. While on the way out of the forest, her teammates were killed by Orochimaru and he kidnapped her, seeing the potential in her abilities and made her the guard of the prison in the Sound Village. At the time she didn't know that Orochimaru had plans for Sasuke too. She was sure she had seen him when he first came into the Sound Village but she wasn't quite sure. When she did find out for sure that Sasuke was in the Sound Village, she knew that it was meant to be between them. It was almost as if Orochimaru wanted them to be together. Karin knew deep down that it was little more than coincidence that they both were attacked by Orochimaru at the chunin exams and he had chosen them for his own reasons, but she couldn't help herself at times. Finally when Sasuke did select her to be part of his Team Hebi, she was overjoyed. She was ecstatic when he finally felt for her what she had always felt for him.

"I'll have to make sure that Tsunade is okay with you seeing Sakura as well. I mean like I said, they may start with me because of our past and then allow you. I'm just not sure." Sasuke said.

"Fine." Karin said, knowing she could hope for no better response really. "I'll wait for you back at my Interrogation room. I am sure Ibiki may have a few more questions for me, but I think he is working his way to Suigetsu now. They have Inochi interrogating Juugo. He is going pretty easily through this. I think they will move him up to supervision in Konoha soon. They seem to like him."

"As long as they don't piss him off…" Sasuke mumbled.

"What?" Karin asked.

"Nothing…" Sasuke said. "That's good to hear. Everyone is following my orders. I have a feeling Tsunade is already waiting for me. Maybe she needs to know what all Orochimaru did to me." Sasuke said shuddering at some of the deepest locked memories of nights in the Sound Village that traumatized him almost as much as seeing Itachi kill his parents' right in front of him.

Sasuke gave Karin a kiss on the cheek as she went down the hall, finishing her pork fried rice as she headed back into her room. He opened the door to the Interrogation room he was assigned to to find that his suspicions were true, Tsunade was already there waiting for him. She had a look on her face that suggested she had actually expected Sasuke and Karin to not stay in their rooms and explore where they were when she left the room. Tsunade then got up and shut the door behind Sasuke and motioned for him to have a seat on the other side of the room.

"Have a seat Uchiha Sasuke." Tsunade said.

"Okay." Sasuke said as he sat down. "What do you need Lady Tsunade." While he did not have much respect for Tsunade as the hokage, he knew how to show fake respect when it was due. He wouldn't have lived as long as he had in the Sound Village if he had not known how to do that with Orochimaru. "What is that you need from me now Lady Tsunade?" He asked, keeping an intense eye on her.

"I heard you and that Karin girl talking earlier. You want to see Sakura again and see if Karin's chakra circle healing method would work in healing her." Tsunade said.

"How did you know that was what we were talking about?" Sasuke said.

"You are in the Interrogation Squad's headquarters. They wouldn't be the spies and information extractors they were if they couldn't tell me what you were talking about." Tsunade said.

"I guess that is true…" Sasuke sighed looking at the celling. He had never really imagined having to team back up with Konoha to get his revenge but the time had come and he had to work his way back into being respected by the other nin of Konoha once again. It wasn't going to be easy but if Tsunade could help him get back in Sakura's good books again, it might be easier to be accepted by the rest of his class. He knew that he was on the outs with Neji, Kiba, Lee, Chouji and Shikamaru because they were the ones who nearly died when it came to trying to retrieve him. Yet he knew there may be a chance they could take a liking to him again if he could convince him they were going to the same goal of defeating Akatsuki like they had. Naruto's death could be the one thing that helped them in the end so he could achieve his goal. There was nothing anyone could do to save him at this point, but Sasuke could still help them and he hoped they knew it. He then sighed, looked into Tsunade's eyes with the most genuine feelings he could muster up and asked her what he knew he was going to have to do. "Can I see Sakura Haruno again?"

"If I go with you." Tsunade said plainly. "I don't know how well she will react when she sees you again. Naruto is dead, she couldn't save him and you come back. It would be more than enough to overwhelm any kunochi, not to mention that she is learning to cope with the fact she cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu like she used to. Lee is helping her but it is just no easy when she was on the cusp of becoming a Jonin herself."

"Okay." Sasuke nodded. "Can Karin come too?"

"Not yet." Tsunade said. "Her healing ability will be necessary when we finish the antidote to the poison, as I am of the belief that it could help jumpstart Sakura's chakra again if someone like Karin were to give her some."

Sasuke gulped, imagining what that scene would look like in his mind and then went on to explain what he knew of Karin's ability to heal with her chakra circles from his own personal experiences. "Okay, I have to tell you something about her ability that she would not want anyone but me knowing but from what I have experienced it is the most effective way to treat someone and give them chakra…." Sasuke said blushing at having to tell this part of his beloved Karin's talent. She had, like he said, saved it just for him to use and him only.

"Don't be embarrassed Sasuke." Tsunade said. "We are all adults here and this is a medical case, not a sexual one. Jiraya is not here so it won't be taken the wrong way."

"Fine!" Sasuke said. "The most powerful chakra comes from Karin's circles around her breasts. Suck on one of those and you receive the most empowering chakra. Kind of like a mother's breast milk does for a newborn baby."

"Ah, I can see the trouble you would have with that, and that she would." Tsunade said. _God men are so perverted at times. I could tell by the look on Sasuke's face that he would actually LIKE seeing that. And I thought Jiraya was bad. Then again, if you spend three years in the Sound Village, a guy that likes seeing something like that is the least of your worries._ "Well, we will only have Karin bring that up, and if only that is the case. How is that?"

"Fine." Sasuke said. "Now can we go see Sakura?"

"Sure." Tsunade said leading Sasuke to the pharmacy where Sakura was filling a prescription for one of the injured nin in the hospital. She looked up from her counter and saw that Tsunade was there with Sasuke. Sakura dropped the bottle she was holding and ran over to Sasuke and hugged him crying. She had thought she would never see him again and with Naruto's death, this meant so much more than anything ever could.

"I thought I would never see you again." Sakura cried into Sasuke's chest. _Thank god Karin isn't here to see this…_ Sasuke thought as Sakura held him close to her and kept crying. "I trained to be a medical ninja since you left, but…"

"Yeah, Lady Tsunade told me about what happened. We have an idea of how to make you better. One of my teammates named Karin has chakra circle healing abilities and she can help with your chakra once Lady Tsunade perfects the antidote."

"But… we haven't been able to find an antidote. All we have done is stopping the organ damage that the poison has done to me." Sakura said.

"Well…" Sasuke held his hand behind his shoulder and sighed. "Lady Tsunade took a sample of my blood to use as the base for the antidote as I was poisoned slowly with many of the same poisons by Orochimaru."

"Well, it seems like it would work." Sakura said. "I am just so glad you came back. You can be the key to helping me get back into fighting shape and helping you and your team fight Akatsuki. Maybe even you can get your revenge."

"Yeah. Yeah I can." Sasuke said. "Do you want to meet the healer in my team?"

"Yes." Sakura said. Sasuke looked over at Tsunade, noticed her nod. "Let me go get her." He went down the halls of the Interrogation headquarters and found Karin. Sasuke explained to her about meeting Sakura and then she nodded and followed him. Karin looked around at the pharmacy and saw the only pharmacist with pink hair, and smiled.

"Oh, this must be the Sakura that Sasuke-kun told me so much about." Karin said. _I am going to kill this bitch_ Karin thought as she put out her hand to Sakura.

"And you must be Karin." Sakura said. "I hope we can work together."

"We will." Karin said.

"This is going along better than I thought it would." Sasuke said to himself.

**So how was that? Good? Bad? Lacking in ItaKon? Kinda yuri hinting? Well, let me know about it in a review. For all you ItaKon fans of this story, you should see more of it in the next chapter. I am sorry I took so long to update this one but that is how life is. Well remember to read, well you just did, and review. Ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm. **


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